Stop The Universe! I Want To Get Off!
by xxOrganizedInsanityxx
Summary: Six girls unwillingly stumble into the unfamiliar and often dangerous world of Naruto, where they are forced to compete in the most difficult test of them all: the Chunin Exams. And when you come from a world where ninjas don't exist, things can get ugly.
1. Arrival

~~Natasha~~

I gazed with dismay at my algebra homework, the figures blurring before my eyes as they glazed over with boredom. I tapped my pencil impatiently against the wooden desk, before dropping it with a clatter, since all it seemed to accomplish was to irritate me further. I pushed my chair back from the desk and twisted round to glance at the digital clock that sat on my bedside table. It read: 5:30PM.

I sighed heavily. By now everyone would be meeting up at Carmen's house for her birthday sleepover. She'd been planning it for weeks in advance and it seemed to be the only thing she ever talked about, in school and out, which never failed to get on everyone's nerves, especially mine.

Despite this, everyone seemed to be fairly excited about it. And now the day had finally arrived and instead of being at Carmen's house with my friends I was stuck in my own home with this _stupid_ homework. I scowled at the sheet of paper on my desk, as if it was at fault for everything. Truthfully though, I had no one to blame but myself.

I had received the homework a week ago, giving me plenty of time to do it. But since I'm 'irresponsible' and 'incompetent' (my Mom's words, not mine) and kept putting it off I didn't deserve to go to Carmen's sleepover.

In all fairness, if I had just done the damn homework, instead of losing my cool and screaming back at my Mom, she probably would've let me go...eventually. But no, because I couldn't keep my big mouth shut, I was stuck here on my own.

I sighed heavily and stood up abruptly, crossing my room to the window and pulling back the curtains to see outside. Darkness had started to fall and a few snowflakes were drifting down from the heavy sky, threatening to turn into a blizzard. I scowled at the small specks of white cascading down outside my window. I hated the cold weather, especially when it snowed...

My cell phone rang suddenly, the noise impossibly loud in the quiet room; causing me to nearly jump out of my skin. I wandered over to the desk where I had left my phone and picked it up. The small screen displayed a picture of a grinning Carmen. I clenched my jaw in irritation before answering the call.

"I've already _told_ you Carmen!" I hissed, "I'm grounded! I'm not allowed to go to your house anymore! So _stop asking_!"

There was silence on the other line, which only annoyed me further. I was about to disconnect the call, when I heard something that stopped me.

Carmen was..._crying_.

"A-Are you alright?" I asked, "Carmen? What's wrong?"

"...N-Nat...Something's happened..." she stammered, her voice barely audible.

"What do you mean?"

"I-I don't know how to explain it to you...b-but my family have just...t-they've va-"

Her voice cut off abruptly. I felt a cold shiver go up my spine.

"Carmen?" I whispered. I pressed the phone to my ear, trying desperately to hear something, _anything_ that would reassure me Carmen was ok. I opened my mouth to try and say something but my mouth was impossibly dry. I swallowed and tried again.

"C-Carmen?" I said, my voice rising with hysteria.

There was no reply.

Just silence.

Then, without warning there was an ear-splitting scream from the other line. I jumped about a foot in the air, the mobile slipping from my grasp and dropping with a loud clatter to the floor. I bent down and picked it back up with clumsy, trembling fingers.

"Carmen!" I cried. I got no answer. The only thing I could hear now was the dialling tone.

Something had happened to my friend. Something awful.

And I intended to find out what.

I crammed my mobile into my pocket and raced out of my room, thundering down the stairs two at a time. I plucked my shoes up off the floor, trying to shove them on my feet, which was proving more difficult than I had anticipated since I was shaking uncontrollably.

"Natasha!"

I jumped with fright, dropping the shoe I had been holding and spun round to see my Mom standing in the door way of the living room; her arms folded, a stern expression fixed on her face.

"And just _where_ do you think you're going?" she demanded. I opened my mouth trying to pull together an explanation but the words stuck in my throat.

"I...I-I was..." my voice trailed off. Her eyes narrowed.

"In case you've forgotten Natasha, you're _grounded_. Remember? That means no leaving the house; not even for friend's birthdays."

"S-Something's happened to Carmen. S-She just called me and-"

"She _called_ you?" my Mom repeated, disbelieving. "Didn't I take your cell phone?"

"I...uhh..." I wasn't about to admit to rooting through her room when she had left the house to take my mobile back...It wasn't going to help my cause. In fact, I was wasting time standing here doing nothing. I had to get to Carmen; even if it was just to make sure she was ok. I managed to cram my foot into my other shoe and headed for the front door.

My Mom's voice developed a hard edge as she finally lost her patience with me. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just going to Carmen's. I promise I'll be back in five." I yanked the door open, letting a blast of icy air into the house. I heard her rapid footsteps behind me.

"Natasha, you _dare_ leave this house and I swear I'll-"

That was the last I heard from her. I bolted out of the door, down the steps and navigated round the cars parked in the driveway. I glanced over my shoulder only once to see the silhouette of my Mom standing in the doorway, still calling my name. I could deal with her yelling at me later, right now there were more important things to worry about. I had to get to Carmen's house; luckily it was only a block or two away from my own home.

I raced down the street, the sound of my feet slamming against the pavement the only noise. It was deadly quiet. Too quiet for my own liking. As I ran, the snowflakes whirled around me, slowing my progress slightly. I darted round the corner, coming into Carmen's street and skidding to a halt. I could see her house in the centre of the street.

But...something wasn't right.

The building was shrouded in darkness. No light emitted from any of the windows. In fact, it was the same with every single house on the street. There were no lights in _any_ of the windows. It was an eerie sight. The only light came from the streetlamps, set at intervals along the pavements on either side.

I paused, puzzled, at the end of the street, surveying the scene around me; my gaze fixed mainly on my friend's house. Carmen was supposed to be having her sleepover. She should have been home right now. Why were all her lights off? Unless...this was all some sort of prank? Some sick practical joke her and the girls had pulled off, just to scare me senseless?

No...my friends could be idiots sometimes, but I didn't think they would have gone _that _far just to get some cheap laughs. They were my friends...they wouldn't do something like that...would they?

It was while these thoughts crossed my mind that _it _happened.

The moment everything started going wrong.

A flicker of movement caught my eye and my gaze snapped to the pair of lampposts at the very end of the street. They flickered simultaneously, before going out completely in the very same instant. I squinted, feeling even more perplexed. Suddenly the next pair of lampposts flickered out.

Then the ones next to those.

And the ones next to those.

If I had had any doubts that something was horribly wrong, they vanished in that second. I felt the threat of a panic attack building rapidly as yet another pair of lampposts flickered out. I wanted desperately to run, but my feet felt frozen to the pavement. Where the lampposts had flickered out, everything else around it, the houses, the surrounding street had vanished into blackness, as if it were never there.

It was _terrifying_.

Another pair of lampposts flickered out, their lights extinguished, causing more of the street to fade into the darkness. There was only two sets of lampposts between me and the wave of blackness. My body felt completely numb, but somehow, I managed to find my feet.

I spun around and ran like hell, completely gripped by panic. I didn't dare glance over my shoulder, not even for a second; I was too afraid by what I might see. Heart pounding, lungs burning, I raced into my own street; my gaze falling upon my own house. As it was in Carmen's block, every single building was dark. The only light I could see was spilling out of my front door which was still hanging open, the doorway empty, my Mom gone. Ahead of me, further down the street, yet more lampposts were flickering out, enveloped by the darkness.  
I sped towards the open door, desperately trying to outrun whatever thing was after me. I reached the end of my driveway as the lamppost above my head winked out. I was only fifteen feet away from my front door.

Ten feet.

Five.

I raced up the stairs and paused momentarily at the doorway; daring to risk a glance over my shoulder. There was only blackness behind me. It was as if my entire street had been completely wiped from existence. I tore my gaze away from the dark and turned to the only source of light that was coming from the my door which was still ajar. Just as I reached the doorway the light from inside flickered out.  
Caught off guard, I stumbled on the threshold of my house, toppling to the ground. I put out my hands to catch myself, waiting for the moment when I would collide with the floor.

But it never came.

I just continued to fall.

I opened my mouth to scream but my voice had completely deserted me. I couldn't make a sound and even if I could there would have been no way I could've heard it over the rush of blood in my ears, that made me deaf to any other noise. Just as it felt like my sanity was slipping away from me, I was virtually blinded by a sudden flash of light and I was caught unawares as I suddenly slammed hard into the ground. I opened my eyes to see the floor inches in front of my nose.

I sat up cautiously, shaking uncontrollably and gazed with astonishment at my surroundings.

Wherever I was...it certainly wasn't home...

~~Carmen~~

I yanked back the curtain, peering out of my bedroom window which overlooked the street outside of the front of my house. Even though it was technically still pretty early, it was already pitch black outside; the street illuminated by the streetlamps shining overhead. There was still no sign that any of my friends were arriving. Maybe I was being a bit overdramatic...after all, it was only a few minutes past the agreed time...but still...they should've been here by now!

I turned away from the window, leaving a small chink in the curtains and crossed my room to the door, turning the corner and stomping down the stairs. I paused in the hallway, hearing the television in the living room to my left blaring away.

I heard the muffled roar of a car engine coming from outside. My heart soared. Maybe one of my friends was arriving! I raced to the front door and yanked it open, just in time to see a jeep rolling past my house, and out of sight.

Maybe not then...

I felt disappointment hit me then and I slammed the door shut, with more force than was strictly necessary. Going back into the hall, I turned to the living room door and shoved it open.

"Hey Mom? D'you know if-" I started to say, but then stopped. The room was devoid of any people. The television was still on, the programme on some shopping network; blaring away at seemingly full volume. There was a gossip magazine lying open on the sofa and one of my Dad's beer cans had fallen to the floor, spilling its contents.

But there was no sign of either of them.

It was as if they had both just suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.

Unsettled by this thought, I backed out of the living room and across the hallway to the kitchen. Neither of them were in there either. I reluctantly made my way to the back door and pulled it open gazing out into the darkness of my garden.

"Mom?" I called out nervously, "Dad?"

The sound of my echo was the only reply I could hear. It was eerie, to say in the least. I slammed the back door shut and hurried across to the hallway, pausing at the open living room door to peer inside; hoping against hope that my parents had someone magically re-appeared.

They hadn't.

Panic was starting to grip me as I suddenly remembered my younger sister, Abigail. She was upstairs in her bed, sleeping supposedly.

'_If Mom and Dad have suddenly just...then does that mean...Abigail has...'_

The second the thought crossed my mind I felt overcome by terror.

"Abigail!" I cried, my voice shrill. I charged upstairs and across the hall to my sister's room, barging in and snapping on the light. The room was just the same as it was when I had last seen it. The floor was littered all over by her various dolls, her childish scribbles taped to the walls.

But...her bed was empty.

I threw back the covers, even going as far as to check under the bed and in her wardrobe before finally realising it was worthless. My little sister was nowhere to be found. I could feel my breath coming out in ragged gasps as I backed out of the room. I turned and headed across the hallway, trying desperately to fight down the panic that was building up inside me.

I shoved the door to my room open, my gaze darting round the room and coming to a rest on my cell phone. I stared at it for a second before snatching it up, feeling the weight of it in my hand. I needed to hear someone else's voice; the silence was ringing in my ears and it terrified me. I punched in the first number I could think of and pressed it to my ear. The distinct ringing of the phone was abruptly interrupted by a click and then a irritated voice flooded my ears.

"I've already _told _you Carmen!" Natasha's voice hissed, ""I'm grounded! I'm not allowed to go to your house anymore! So _stop asking_!"

I opened my mouth to reply but I couldn't seem to find any words. I didn't even realise that I was crying until I felt the hot tears streaming down my cheeks and a sob tore its way out of my mouth.

"A-Are you alright?" Natasha's voice had lost its angry edge, "Carmen? What's wrong?"

I tried extremely hard to swallow the lump that had appeared in my throat and to find my voice.

"...N-Nat..." I stammered in a hushed voice, "S-Something's happened..." My voice was barely audible, even to me.

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"I-I don't know how to explain it to you..." I said, "B-But my family...they've just...just...t-they've va-"

My voice was cut off in that single moment when there was a soft click and the light in my room suddenly snapped off, plunging me into darkness. I couldn't have uttered a single word if my life depended on it.

"Carmen?" I faintly heard Natasha's voice through the ringing in my ears. My hand was trembling so much it cause the cell phone to slip from my fingers and clatter to the floor. There was only so much I could take before being pushed over the edge.

I was so consumed by terror, I could no longer contain it and I opened my mouth and screamed at the top of my lungs. I was hit with the sudden urge to get out. I _had _to escape from this place. It wasn't my home. Not anymore. A home were supposed to be a safe place. A sanctuary. Not this one.

There was something so horribly _wrong _with this place. Something I couldn't explain rationally. I just knew I had to get out. _Right now! _

I spun and ran, bolting out of my bedroom and down the stairs, nearly losing my footing on more than one occasion in my haste to escape. I slid on the polished wooden floor and slammed into the ground, smacking my head pretty hard.

Fighting the sudden wave of pain I struggled back to my feet and lunged at the door, grabbing the handle and tugging at it viciously.

But..._it wouldn't open!_

I pulled at it desperately, but the handle was firmly stuck. Another sob tore its way out of my lungs as I quickly became hysterically, twisting my wrist painfully in my efforts to get the door open.

I could feel another scream building up in my lungs but before I could let it out something even worse happened. One second I was standing pressed up against the door, still tugging at the handle, hot tears running freely down my face.

The next moment...the earth seemed to open up and swallow me whole.

It was as if the solid floor under my feet had just vanished in an instant, causing me to plummet down into oblivion. I tried to keep a hold on the door handle but it slipped out of my grasp as I fell. The scream that I had been trying to hold in suddenly erupted from my mouth, ringing loudly in my ears. I struggled to assemble my panicked thoughts while they whirled round my head in incomprehensible fragments; as I continued to plunge into the impenetrable darkness.

My fall came to an abrupt halt, however when my vision was flooded with bright light. I screwed my eyes shut against the glare as my feet suddenly slammed into something hard, the impact sending waves of pain up my legs and causing me to lose my balance. I toppled to the ground.

My head smacked against wooden floorboards, my ears ringing loudly. I glanced up, disoriented, my sight blurry and tried to take in my surroundings. I had a brief hope that maybe when I had fallen and hit my head that I had knocked myself out. That nothing out of the ordinary had happened...that I was still safe at home.

But as my head cleared and my surroundings became more comprehensible, that hope evaporated as quickly as it had appeared...

~~Diane~~

I stood up as the doorbell went for the third time, ringing repeatedly as the person outside seemingly lost patience. Sighing, I thundered downstairs, heading for the door as the bell continued to ring insistently.

"Don't worry Mom, I'll get it." I called, my words laced with sarcasm. I glanced in the direction of the open living room door where the television was blaring away, before crossing the hall to yank open the front door.

"Hey, Diane!" my friend Riley shrieked loudly in my face, bursting through the door before I could even get it properly open.

"Yeah, hi Riley." I replied, "I just need to go upstairs and get my things. D'you think you'd be able to wait an extra five seconds?"

Riley shook her head vigorously and I sighed before turning my back and bounding back up the stairs and into the room I shared with my younger brother. His crap was, as usual, littered all over the place. If I had had the time I would've probably tidied the place up, but Riley would be bouncing off the walls by now, even though I'd only been gone about a minute.

I grabbed my bag that was crammed full of my things for the sleepover, swinging it over my shoulder and heading back downstairs. I ignored Riley, who was babbling on excitedly about the sleepover behind me and, as I reached the front door, turned and called out:

"Bye Mom! See you tomorrow!" before slamming the door shut behind me. The cold air stung at my face as soon as we were outside, and I shivered, regretting not bringing my coat. A car horn, blaring repeatedly, brought me out of my thoughts, and I glanced up ahead to see a car parked in the middle of the road, headlights piercing the dark.

"C'mon Diane!" Riley said, tugging my hand to hurry me along. We both hurried to the car as snowflakes suddenly started to cascade down from the thunderous sky. I climbed into the vehicle, dropping my bags on to the floor as Riley clambered in on the other side. We both shut our doors as the car roared to life and shot forward down the road.

"Um...thanks for giving me a ride, Dave." I said to the driver, Riley's Dad.

"Diane, don't feel you _have_ to speak to the chauffer." Riley told me, grinning cheekily. Her Dad scowled, turning the wheel in his hands as we swung around the corner.

"You keep speaking to me like that, and you can get out and walk." He snapped, without taking his eyes of the road.

"You wouldn't do that to me." Riley replied, confident.

"And why not?"

"Cause you love me."

He snorted loudly as the car grinded to a halt at a pair of traffic lights. I turned to gaze out of the window at the streets outside. The snow had started to fall harder, threatening to turn into a blizzard. There were very few people wandering about outside at this time, especially since it was so icy cold. I was grateful for being inside the car, where the central heating was turned up full. The traffic lights changed to green and the vehicle propelled forward, spinning round a corner into a quiet suburban street, which I could vaguely recognize as Carmen's neighbourhood.

We drove on, passing a few blocks of almost identical houses before we came into Carmen's street. I snapped out of my daze as I suddenly saw her house coming up on the left hand side. The door was flung open and I saw my friend in the doorway, silhouetted against the light from behind her.

Typical Carmen...Impatient, as always...

I reached to undo my seatbelt, but froze when the car kept on driving, passing Carmen's house and continuing on down the street.

"Dad! You've missed our stop!" Riley protested, "What're you-"

Her voice faded away and I whirled round to look at her, seeing a horrified expression on her face. I followed her gaze and saw what had got her so afraid.

The front seat of the car was empty.

My eyes widened. I was seeing things. I had to be. This wasn't happening. Was not _possible_. No one..._No one, _could just simply _vanish _into thin air. Wasn't even imaginable.  
And yet...the seat remained empty.

And the car continued to roll forward, seemingly undeterred by the fact that there was no one driving it. I wasn't entirely sure which one of us started screaming first. All I could remember at that second was being so fearful, thinking that at any second we were going to collide with another vehicle and I was certainly not looking forward to the moment of impact.

At any rate, we did slam into another car. But not a moving one.

There was a jarring thud that almost threw both Riley and I out of our seats; a loud screech of metal on metal as we came to a sudden stop. I stayed completely still, feeling cold all over, gasping for air.

"Dad? Dad! W-Where are you? What's going on?" Riley cried out, undoing her seatbelt and leaning over into the front part of the car, her eyes desperately scanning over every inch of the interior, despite the fact that it was painfully obvious he was gone.

"Diane! What's happening?" she said hysterically, her voice shrill as she turned to me. Looking to me for answers. Like I was supposed to know. I was as clueless as she was. I couldn't give her any better answer than a slight shake of my head.

I felt a sudden intense need for air, the car was too claustrophobic, even the icy air from outside would do. I reached over, took off my seatbelt and opened the car door, letting the chill in. I breathed deeply, trying to get my heart rate to return to normal, to clear my head.

But something wasn't right.

It was dark outside. Really dark. _Too _dark. Far too dark for a suburban street that was supposed to be dotted with lampposts and lights from the surrounding houses. I couldn't see anything in the void of blackness that seemingly surrounded the car. It was silent too. There were no voices, no people coming to help us, like I had been expecting. It seemed strange to me; we _had _just been in a car crash after all, even if it was a pretty minor one.

I leaned out as far as I dared, clinging on to the seat just in case. I couldn't even see the tarmac a few feet below me, and the silence was getting unbearable. I heard Riley clambering over the seats behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see her shoving the car door open, still calling hysterically for her Dad. She swung her legs out of the vehicle and jumped out.

I felt intensely uneasy about this. Something seemed just so _wrong..._and I couldn't understand why. One thing was for sure. There was no way in hell I was getting out of the car. I didn't want to risk it.

Riley on the other hand...

I crawled over the seats to her side, leaning cautiously out, the icy air stinging my face. I couldn't see my friend anywhere.

"Riley?" I called nervously, my voice trembling with fright. For a few seconds, the heavy silence was the only reply I received. Then there was a thud from the front of the car. I turned and glanced at the space between the front seats to see Riley standing with a hand on the bonnet of the car, her back to me as she gazed out at the darkness in front of her. I felt a pang of sympathy for how vulnerable she looked out there.

She whirled round to face me, narrowing her eyes in the glare of the headlights of the car. She wrapped her arms around herself as she was shivering from the cold.

"W-What's going on, Diane?" she asked anxiously. Her eyes were glittering with unshed tears and I could tell she was barely able to hold them back.

I wanted badly to say something, anything, to comfort her, but before I could think of anything, Riley vanished.

It was so fast. I blinked and I missed it. She had disappeared without the slightest noise, just like her Dad minutes earlier.

There one second.

Gone the next.

I stared, disbelieving, at the place where she had been standing moments before, feeling sick with terror. This wasn't _possible. _People didn't just disappear with no explanation like this.

There was a loud click as the headlights of the car suddenly flickered out, leaving the vehicle completely surrounded by darkness. The only lights I had now were the ones embedded in the ceiling, illuminating the interior. I felt my breathing coming out in gasps as I was gripped by panic.  
It was coming for me.

Whatever it was that had happened, whatever got Riley and her Dad...it was going to get me now.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

I felt horribly exposed sitting in the back seat of the car, both doors on either side of me wide open. I leaned over and slammed both shut as fast as I could, my hands shaking so badly it was hard to get a hold of the handles.

Just as I had done that, there was a slight buzzing sound above my head. I glanced up at the interior lights overhead as they flickered and were suddenly extinguished. I reached up with clumsy, trembling fingers and fumbled for the switch, turning it on and off, praying for the light to come back on.

It didn't.

I was still sitting there, struggling to hold back my hysteria, when the world around me disintegrated. It happened almost to quickly for me to notice. The seat underneath me suddenly disappeared and there was a horrible few seconds that I spent plummeting through utter darkness. But before I could even register what was going on, before I could get enough breath back to scream, the darkness was obliterated by a sudden explosion of bright light. I screwed my eyes shut against the light as I suddenly slammed hard into the ground. I lay there, gasping for air, breathing in the strong scent of earth, trying to get my bearings.

I glanced up, when my head had finally stopped spinning to look at my surroundings, my eyes widening in disbelief at what I saw.

Of one thing I was absolutely certain...normal had just crashed and burned...

~~Melissa~~

I stole a hurried glance around my bedroom as I plucked my rucksack up off the floor. Satisfied that I didn't have anything else to take with me, I spun around and left the room, walking down the hallway and thundering downstairs, dropping my bag to the floor and tugging my coat off the peg attached to the wall. I wound a scarf round my neck and pulled on my coat, before wandering through the living room and into the kitchen, my eyes scanning over the room before coming to a rest on the house keys, which were sitting on the table.

Just as I reached to pick them up, I heard a loud thumping noise as someone hammered on the front door loudly, making me jump. I quickly snatched the keys off the table, cramming them into my pocket, and headed for the door. I tugged it open to see an energetic Julia bouncing up and down on my doorstep, a manic grin on her face.

"Oh, _heeeey _Mel!" she said brightly.

"Yeah, hi." I replied, not nearly as enthusiastically.

"So...your parents home?"

"No...They're out..."

"Oh, _good_. We can have us some sexy time!" she said, winking seductively.

I pulled the door shut behind me and locked it.

"I thought we were gonna wait till we got to Carmen's house?" I said, laughing.

"No, I want sex _now!_" she shouted, jumping on me with almost enough force to knock me over.

"Ok, seriously , stop that. You're starting to creep me out." I said, shoving her off me. Julia sniffed, feigning sadness.

"Why are you so afraid of loving me?" she asked mournfully.

"Shut _up_!"

I turned on my heel and made my way down my driveway, closely followed by Julia. I held open the gate for her and froze suddenly. I gazed down the street as the feeling of unease grew.

Something just didn't feel right...

The icy air bit at my cheeks and I shivered. The discomfort had only increased now that I was outside...it _could _just be the cold...but I couldn't shake my instinct that something was wrong here...

Trying to shake of the feeling, I headed into the lane adjacent to my house, Julia trailing behind me.

We wandered down the wide pavement, snow starting to drift down from the sky. The path on either side was lined with fences from the back of the surrounding houses. The way was dimly lit by lampposts set at regular intervals on the left side. I tried to stick to that side, reassured by the presence of the lights.

That is...until they started going out.

I froze, my foot sticking to the ground as the lamps started simultaneously flickering above me. Beside me, Julia came to a standstill, staring overhead, her eyes wide, an expression of confusion on her face.

"Wow...it's like something from a horror movie." She said, quietly. Giving a nervous laugh, she added. "I'm just waiting for when the guy wearing the Scream mask jumps out and tries to murder us..."

"_Don't say that!_" I hissed.

She gave me a mischievous grin, but before she could say anything else my attention was immediately drawn to another flicker of light as the lamppost at the very end of the street suddenly blinked out.

Then the next one.

And the next one.

"Oh shit." Julia said. Every instinct in my body was screaming at me to get away, to _run. _But I couldn't have moved even if my had life depended on it.

Another light flickered out.

And another.

"Okay...I'm ready to wake up now." Julia said, without the slightest trace of insincerity.

Yet another lamp was extinguished.

Only one remained now, and it flickered dangerously.

Julia gave a frightened shriek and moved with sudden speed, careering into me and abruptly knocking me out of my daze. I stumbled slightly, before turning and sprinting in the opposite direction, Julia right behind me.

I reached the gate boarding my yard, fumbling with the catch; flinging the gate open, darting to the front door, struggling desperately with the handle, wasting valuable seconds before remembering I had locked it. I dug my hand in my pocket, pulling the key out, trying to insert it in the lock which was proving extremely difficult, considering my hands were shaking uncontrollably.

Julia was hovering behind me; I could hear her shrieking hysterically as she shoved at my back, trying to hurry me up. The porch light that was attached to the wall above our heads, flickered dangerously, a reminder of the oncoming darkness. I flinched and the key slipped through my fingers. I cried out as it fell, bouncing of the front step and disappearing in the darkness.

I had a last desperate attempt to open the door, tugging viciously at the handle, but it wouldn't budge. Behind me, I heard Julia scream suddenly, a sound so awful it made my blood freeze in my veins. I whirled round just as the porch light above me was extinguished, plunging me into utter darkness.

I stood on the front step of my house, surrounded by a wall of impenetrable blackness. I couldn't see anything, let alone my friend. It was as if the world around me had just blinked out of existence.

A second later, the ground underneath me vanished, and I was free-falling, completely blind to my surroundings. All the air was ripped out of my lungs as I plummeted, but before I could get any oxygen back into my lungs to scream, my terrifying ordeal came to a sudden halt.

My sight was abruptly overwhelmed by light; so vividly bright, it blinded me. I screwed up my eyes as I slammed into the floor, the impact knocking me off balance, causing me to topple over.

I hurriedly glanced up, my head still ringing painfully, trying to get to grips with the situation in which I found myself. As my head cleared and I regained focus I quickly came to the realisation that whatever had happened...wherever I was now...it was _definitely _not home...


	2. Confusion

~~Riley~~

I opened my eyes, squinting in the sudden bright sunlight, my gaze focusing on the scene around me. There was green...lots of green. I seemed to be lying in some sort of clearing in the middle of what looked like a forest.

I could briefly remember driving past Carmen's house...my Dad disappearing into thin air...then the sudden onslaught darkness...

And now it was like I'd just been dumped in the middle of the wilderness. It made no sense at all. I raised myself into a crouch, not wanting to let my guard down for a second. It crossed my mind, that there was a slight chance I could just be dreaming...but that thought immediately flew out the window.

There was no way that it could be a dream. I couldn't ever recall having a dream that was _this_ vivid. Everything was so..._detailed, _right down to the leaves on the trees that hung above my head, and the individual blades of grass underneath me.

No...this couldn't be anything _but _real life.

And yet, there was something not right about this place. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I clambered to my feet, flinching at the commotion a flock of birds caused as they hurtled out of a tree above my head when I moved; disappearing into the bright blue sky in a matter of seconds.

Silence fell once again. The weather was considerably warmer than it had been before, and I was starting to get uncomfortable in my thick jacket. The sun shone down through large gaps in between the trees; the grass below patchy with light.

I allowed my gaze to wander over the clearing and the cluster of surrounding trees. I paused when something suddenly caught my eye, something that was distinctly different from the glossy greens of the forest. A figure was sprawled underneath the branches of one of the trees; a girl...maybe around my age?

As I watched, transfixed; she sat up, glancing around her. She had bright blonde hair that hung past her shoulders and icy blue eyes that seemed slightly unfocused. It only took me a matter of moments before my mind clicked and the realisation hit me.

That girl...it was...

"Diane!" I shrieked, delighted. Her head snapped round at the sound of her name, her eyes immediately fixing on me. I felt a grin spread across my face, but it quickly disappeared when the blonde took one look at me and said in a horrified tone:

"What's wrong with your _face_?"

I scowled at her, "Yeah...Nice to see you too." I snapped, sarcastically, "Bitch."

She titled her head, her expression still quizzical. I sighed, glancing around as a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

"Diane, where's my Dad?" I asked abruptly. She clambered to her feet, dusting tiny clumps of dirt off her clothes.

"How should I know?" she said, uninterested. My gaze darted around, as I started to feel frantic.

"W-Well...he was in the car with us right? So, if you're here...and I'm here too, then he _has_ to be somewhere..."

I spun back round to see Diane watching me intently, a strange look on her face as she surveyed me.

"I...I just want to see my Dad again...I-I mean what if...something happened? O-Or he's hurt or..."

Diane crossed the small clearing in a couple of strides, quickly closing the space between us and flung her arms round me in a hug.

"Don't worry about him, Riley. He'll be around here somewhere." She said softly, letting go of me and taking a step back; gazing amongst the trees surrounding us. "Why don't we take a look around? Maybe we'll bump into him."

With that she turned and marched purposefully into the forest as I scrambled after her, trying to keep up. We made our way through the wilderness, clambering over roots that stuck out of the ground and shoving low hanging branches out of the way. It was gloomy at first, as the only light came from the gaps in the leaves above us. But as we travelled further the trees seemed to thin out and it got gradually brighter as more sunlight streamed down on us.

Eventually, after we had been walking for about fifteen minutes, the woodland stopped completely, opening up into a fair sized square of land. The ground was dry and dusty, and a huge white building loomed up opposite us; the first form of civilisation we had seen in what seemed like a long time. It was considerably quiet around, the only noise the distant chirping of birds overhead.

At first it seemed as if we were the only ones there, but when I took a second to let my gaze wander, something caught my eye. To my left, at the edge of the woods, one of the trees had a small wooden swing tied by fraying ropes to its branches. Perched on the swing, with a distant expression on her face, was another girl about our age. Her curly brown hair waved its way to her mid-back and her dark brown eyes gazed at the empty land in front of her as she swung back and forth on the little swing. Beside me, I could see Diane staring at the other girl, a slight sign of recognition her face.

"Natasha!" she cried out suddenly, the abrupt noise making me jump: and I wasn't the only one. The girl on the swing (who I could now identify as our friend Natasha, although, like Diane there was something off about her...) lurched from fright, almost falling out of the seat. Diane raced towards her, crossing the space between them in a matter of seconds and pulling her forcefully into a hug.

Natasha looked surprised, to say in the least, as she tried, unsuccessfully to shove the blonde away from her. Deciding she probably needed some help, I hurriedly crossed the clearing to the pair and, with the black-haired girl's help, managed to yank Diane away from her. There was a brief fight, entailing a lot of slapping, shrieking and hair pulling which I quickly managed to break up.

Afterwards, once we'd all managed to calm the fuck down a little we had agreed (after much yelling back and forth which almost led to another scrap) on trying to find where we were or at the very least find someone to tell us what the _hell _was going on. Since the only place that looked moderately beneficial was the strange white building ahead of us, we had decided it seemed like a good place to start.

A decision we would later come to regret, in more ways than one.

On entering the building (which took us longer than I had anticipated, as it had taken us over ten minutes just to find a door that wasn't locked) we were deposited into a narrow hallway that stretched out ahead of us. The walls were white-washed and bare; the wooden floorboards underfoot creaked loudly in the silence surrounding us.

"D'you think there's anybody else here?" Diane asked, her voice barely over a whisper.

"Only one way to find out, I suppose." Natasha said grimly. We set off, following the hallways as they twisted and turned endlessly. It had taken us ten minutes to even get in the damn building. It took us less than five to get hopelessly lost. Every door we came to opened on to identical rooms:

Fair-sized, they had the same bare white-washed walls as the corridors. Each room had the exact same layout; one side had a large dark green chalkboard mounted on the wall that was covered in some foreign language (Chinese or Japanese by the look of it.) The other wall was made up of high set windows. Every room had the same large wooden desks, set in uniform rows on the far side, with another one set in front of the large chalkboard.

The basic set up of a classroom.

Which meant that the building we had entered was undeniably a school.

And a fucking huge one at that.

"For _fucks _sake!" I yelled as I slammed the door shut on _another _identical classroom. "How big _is_ this shit heap?"

"What I don't get," Diane said, as we continued on down the seemingly endless corridor, "Is why there's no one else here. I mean, this _is _a school, right? Shouldn't there be-"

"Stairs!" Natasha shrieked with delight, charging down the hallway which, as she had said ended in a curved staircase.

I shared a worried look with Diane before we darted after our friend, trying desperately to keep up. We flew up the stairs, taking two at a time, reaching the top (entering _yet another _bare hallway) just in time to see Natasha disappear round the corner.

Diane charged after her, screeching abuse at the top of her lungs, with me right on her heels. Which was pretty unfortunate, as when we turned the corner and she stopped very abruptly I crashed right into her before toppling to the floor. I glanced up to see what the hell Diane was playing at.

She was standing, frozen in place, staring ahead with a bemused look on her face. Ahead of her, a dozen or so pairs of eyes stared right back. A group of kids, around about our age (give or take a few years) were standing in the hallway, the first actual sighting of other human beings I'd seen since we'd first arrived in this strange place.

And by the looks of things, the people themselves were even stranger.

They were all wearing the same basic type of clothing; dark, earthy colours in weird styles with strange headbands on their foreheads, made with blue cloth and a chunk of shining metal that had a symbol etched into it.

Every one of these kids had the same expression of malice and contempt on their faces as they glared down at us. I was reminded vaguely of my first day of high school; there was the exact same sense of intimidation in the air, the same cold eyes staring us down, the same sceptical whispered comments fluttering around.

"What the _hell_?"

"Who are these losers?"

"Pathetic. Surely _they_ can't be here for the exam? They're a disgrace to the Shinobi name."

I flinched at the word as a small, dim light flickering in the very back of my mind.

Shinobi...where had I heard that before?

I scrambled to my feet and followed closely behind Diane as together we made our way through the hostile crowd, trying not to make eye contact and keep our heads down. When I was sure we had left that menacing lot behind I risked glancing up. Another crowd was assembled outside of a door with a small sign above it that read 301. There was a sudden noise, a loud thud to my left where the others were. I felt Diane grip my arm tightly, gasping in alarm. I spun round to see a boy knocked to the floor, while the surrounding group stood idly by and watched, not attempting to help at all. The boy in question seemed to have a twisted sense of style...to say in the least...He had thick black hair in a bowl cut style and was wearing a body suit made entirely of green spandex.

I'm not exactly a fashion expert myself...

But that's just fucking _not right._

He rubbed at his bruised face, grimacing. Two older boys: one with chin length dark hair and a malicious look on his face, the other had hair that seemed to completely defy gravity, sticking up in every possible direction. They both had the same headbands as everyone else, the symbols on their metal plates were the same kind of swirly design.

"Ha! You plan to take the Chunin Exam with _that_?" the one with the spiky hair sneered, "You should just quit now."

I blinked as that dim light in the back of my mind flickered again, starting to irritate me. Chunin...something else familiar. But hard as I tried I couldn't quite work it out.

"You're just a bunch of little kids." The other mocked. "You won't last ten seconds."

A girl, who was seemingly with the really ugly black haired boy, stepped forward. She had dark brown hair in buns on the top of her head, and had a wary expression on her face as she approached the two menacing figures in front of her.

"Please...just let us through..." She begged. The spiky haired boy scowled at her before drawing his arm back and punching her square in the face. There was a collective gasp as she tumbled to the floor.

"Horrible..." someone muttered.

I bit my lip in worry and risked a glance at Diane to see how she was taking this. Her eyes were wide and she her face was a good shade paler than usual.

"M-Maybe we should get outta here..." She whispered to me, tugging on my sleeve. I nodded, ready to make a break for it, but then one the boy with the spiky hair started speaking again, drawing my attention.

"Listen, this is our kindness. This Chunin Exam...it isn't easy...even _we _have failed it three times in a row." The short haired one said, "We've seen it all; those that take this exam and end up quitting as Shinobis, those that die during the exam."

"And yet little kids like you come here, thinking you can pass?" the other sneered. "We're just thinning out those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?" the first boy added smugly. An uneasy silence fell on the crowd, nervous looks passing back and forth.

"Enough talk." someone spoke out suddenly, "Let me past and remove your lousy Genjutsu. Even an idiot could see through that."

Heads turned in the direction of the speaker; a tall boy whose raven black hair was spiked in a style similar to that of a cockatoo. He was wearing a baggy dark blue shirt and knee-length black trousers. That irritating light in the back of my mind was flashing more insistently than ever and it was starting to piss me off.

The threatening pair standing by the door glowered at him, one of them smirking.

"You noticed, huh?" he sneered. The other boy just returned his smirk, taunting him, almost.

"So you saw through our 'lousy' Genjutsu," the short-haired boy snarled, "But let's see you dodge _this_!" he yelled as he lunged at him suddenly. The spiky-haired boy had hardly any time to react, tensing himself, ready to lash back. But before either of them could come to blows, something stopped them.

Or rather, _someone_.

There was a blur of bright green and the ugly boy from before who had been getting beaten up, was suddenly standing between them. He moved so fast it was almost as if he had just magically materialised there. He caught the other two boy's feet in his hands, preventing them from kicking each other. There were gasps of astonishment from the crowd, and, amazingly, a couple of sighs of disappoint; some people actually _wanted_ to see these two tearing into each other.

The realization of this sickened me.

"What a dick." Someone muttered from beside me. I spun round to see Natasha standing shoulder to shoulder with me, her arms folded, an exasperated expression on her face. I was startled...to say in the least.

"_Jesus Christ_!" I gasped.

"Nope. Just me." She replied carelessly.

"Natasha! What've you...Where the _hell _did you go?" I demanded.

She glowered at me, "I didn't _go_ anywhere." She shot back, "I just...went for a look around and came right back."

I sighed, "Whatever, you're here now...I guess that's the important thing. Let's get out of here before things get any worse." I said. Natasha nodded in agreement.

"I think I found a way we can get outta here." She said, "Get Diane and we'll go."

Diane was still hovering behind me. A heated argument was underway, between the ugly kid and some other guy. I didn't spare them a second glance. We managed to tear her attention away from all the shouting and together we made our way through the now thinning crowd and turned into a half-empty corridor. There were a few groups hanging around, holding muttered conversations among themselves. A couple eyed us suspiciously as we drifted past, but no one said anything.

After wandering around for about another ten minutes I was worried we'd got lost again. But after a while we passed by a door and I saw something that made me stop so suddenly that Natasha ended up bumping right into me.

"What's _wrong_ with you?" she snapped. I scowled at her before turning my back on my friends and glancing back to the door.

"It's that number again." I murmured to myself.

"What's she talking about?" Diane hissed. I whirled round to face them.

"Have you been leading us round in circles or something?" I demanded, turning to Natasha. She blinked in confusion.

"Huh?"

I pointed up at the small sign above the door.

"It says 301. But we passed that door ages ago...Didn't we? It was the one with those guys outside it. I'm sure it was! Right?"

I glanced back and forth between my friends. Natasha nibbled at her lip gazing up at the sign, a thoughtful expression on her face. Diane just shrugged at me.

"Maybe there's two rooms with that sign?" she suggested. I snorted.

"I don't think so."

Natasha shook her head ruefully. "This is all just _too_ weird." She sighed.

"So...should we go in or...what?" Diane said.

"Don't see why not." I replied. Natasha twirled a strand of hair round her finger nervously.

"I dunno...I have a bad feeling about this..." she mumbled.

"You've got a _feeling_?" I repeated, "What, like you think your psychic or something?"

She grinned broadly. "Fuck yeah!"

"You're an idiot." I muttered, before I turned round and flung the doors open.

And then instantly regretted doing so.

~~Julia~~

My eyes fluttered open, sensitive towards the bright sunlight. A wide expanse of blue sky stretched out above me, dotted with fluffy white clouds. For a second, I couldn't figure out why this seemed so out of place.

And then it hit me.

Just a few seconds ago it had been dark; night time practically and freezing cold. Unsurprising, since it was the middle of Winter. But then how was it, hardly a minute later, it was suddenly so sunny and warm, like it was the middle of Summer?

I bolted upright, my head spinning from the sudden movement. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes grew wide as my gaze settled on my surroundings.

I was sitting in the middle of what looked like some sort of large courtyard. The ground underneath me was dusty and dry. One side of the yard was lined thickly with trees, on the other a huge three-storey building loomed. It seemed deserted. I glanced from one end to the other. My thoughts were whirling round my head at a hundred miles an hour. Nothing was making sense. I was confused, to say in the least. Not to mention afraid (though I would never admit to it out loud.)

Something glinted in the sunlight where the trees were clumped closely together. I clambered on to unsteady feet and made my way across to the trees, but stopped a few feet short when I spotted something else.

Curled up in the shade of the branches above her was a dark-haired girl. I took a few steps closer, and realized with shock that it was undeniably Melissa, my friend. Yet something looked strange about her, different sort of, but I shook the feeling off. She hadn't registered that I was there, due to the fact she was still comatose.

So I did what any caring friend would do.

I walked right over and gave her a kick in the side to get her moving.

She groaned and mumbled something incoherent screwing her face up. I sighed and rolled my eyes before bending over and giving her shoulder a quick shake.

"C'mon Mel! Get up ya' bitch!" I yelled, kicking her again. She blinked, her eyes unfocused as her gaze darted back and forth before coming to rest on me.

"Julia?" she mumbled. "What...what's going on? What happened?"

She sat up abruptly, rubbing her eyes in the brightness of the sunlight. I didn't bother answering her question. As if I would know the answer anyway...

My attention was diverted to something else. Up ahead, still at the edge of the line of trees stood three stumps: trees that had been hacked down, only their trunks left standing. A large red circle was painted on all three of them: a target. Stuck in one of the stumps was something silver that shone in the light. I moved closer, ignoring Melissa behind me who was complaining of a headache and demanding to know what was going on.

I squinted at the metal implement embedded in the wood. It was shaped a bit like a star, from what I could see and looked pretty sharp. I reached out to touch it then recoiled when a sharp pain bit into my finger.

"Fuck!" I hissed as the cut started bleeding. "Ow! Fuck me, that _hurt_!"

"What's wrong?" Melissa asked, standing by me elbow, peering at my wound, "Oh...you're bleeding. What'd you do?"

"It was the shiny thi-" I started to say but immediately stopped when something rustled loudly in the bushes a few feet away from us. Melissa jumped, startled and clutched at my arm. Thinking fast, I stretched over and yanked the star-shaped weapon out of the tree, getting ready to hurl it and run.

I think both Melissa and I were afraid, imagining any sort of monster could pop out of those wood and attack us. I guess, in some ways, it was something of a disappointment when the only thing that stumbled out was a red-haired girl.

Even that didn't stop us from screaming our heads off though.

And we weren't the only ones to over-react either. She took one look at us and starting shrieking too, especially when she saw the star I was holding.

"Don't kill me!" she screeched, her hands covering her head. Something clicked in my mind. I was sure I had heard that voice before.

"C-Carmen?" Melissa gasped, "What're you doing here?"

The red-haired girl straightened up suddenly, her hazel eyes narrowed as they flickered back and forth between us.

"Oh...um, _hi_." She said, flicking her short auburn hair over her shoulder, feigning casualness. The bitch. "What's up?"

I shared a glance with my sister. She'd seen it too. Carmen's eyes were red and her pale skin was slightly blotchy, her cheeks flushed.

She'd been crying.

She saw our looks of scepticism and frowned, the cheery demeanour gone. "What?"

I folded my arms, "Don't even _try_ to pretend you didn't just shit bricks."

Carmen scowled. "I did not! And anyway, you guys were screaming too!"

"Yeah, but I was screaming at your face, not cause I was scared." I said.

"Oh, shut the fuck up!" she snapped, her eyes glistening suddenly with unshed tears. Melissa sighed and shoved past me, giving me a warning look before crossing over to Carmen and giving her a hug.

"You alright?" she asked, her tone soft. Melissa, ever the pacifist. Me on the other hand? I'm more of an antagonist. Carmen just shrugged her off, taking a shaky breath.

"I...I'm fine. Really. I just...I've had a bit of a...y'know...freak out." She shook her head, bemused, "I-It's just...some crazy shit's been happening, y'know? And I just...I dunno what I..." She trailed off.

Melissa hugged her harder. "Don't worry 'bout it. We're here now. We'll figure something out."  
Carmen sniffed, wiping at her eyes before shaking herself off. She was done crying...for now, anyway.

"What's next then?" Melissa asked, turning to me, Carmen doing the same. I sighed theatrically. I know I was a genius and everything, but did I _have _to always be the one doing all the thinking?

"Well...if we wanna find someone to help us then I guess that's a good place to start looking." I said, gesturing towards the large white building behind us. Melissa looked sceptical.

"You sure about that?" she said hesitantly, "It doesn't really look like there's anyone there...and if there is, we might not be exactly...y'know, welcome."

"You got any better ideas?" I shot back. She scowled at me, defiant, but didn't say anything else. I turned and made my way across the courtyard to, the others following behind me; our footsteps sending up small clouds of dust.

There was a set of double doors that we passed through, entering the building where it was much cooler than outside. We had ended up in a narrow hallway with bare white walls and wooden floorboards. It twisted and turned, seemingly endless.

After about fifteen minutes of wandering round aimlessly in circles, we found a staircase leading us up to the second floor. By this point we were all getting pretty fed up.

"Great idea, by the way. Telling us to come in here." Melissa said sarcastically.

"I didn't _tell _you to do anything." I snapped. "And besides, I didn't see you suggesting anything either. So shut up."

"Maybe we should just go back downstairs and get outta here..." Carmen said. "This place gives me the creeps...it's so quiet..."

"Yeah, well maybe we shouldn't have come here in the first place." Melissa said sourly, glaring at me. I whirled round to face her, furious.

"Mother fuc-"

"Hey! You three!" I was cut off when a new voice called out to us, silencing me. I spun round to see a man marching towards us.

"This can't be good..." I said.

He stopped short, a few feet from us, slightly out of breath. He had spiky black hair that shot straight up. His one visible eye was bright green, the other was hidden by an eye patch. He was wearing dark green clothes, something akin to a uniform and a strip of blue cloth around his arm, with a chunk of metal which had a strange swirly design carved into it. He was, without a doubt, the most bizarre person I'd ever seen.

"You lost?" he asked, his gaze flickering between the three of us. We stood staring at him, stunned. Melissa was the first to recover.

"Uh...y-yeah, we are." She said, stumbling slightly over her words. The man nodded.

"Thought so. Head upstairs and take the first left. Room 301 should be right there. You'll have to hurry the exam's starting in-" he glanced at his watch, "-ten minutes."

I frowned. "Exam? What exam?"

But the man had already turned and half-ran back down the corridor, disappearing round the corner and leaving us more confused than ever.

"Well...I guess we should go upstairs then." Carmen said, breaking the silence.

"You're gonna listen to _that guy_?" I asked. She shrugged.

"What else are we gonna do?"

I sighed. She had a point.

"You coming Mel?" Carmen said. I glanced back at my friend, who was still gazing after the man, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Mel?" Carmen repeated, louder this time. She blinked, snapping out of it.

"Hmm? Oh...sorry, it's just...that thing round that guy's arm, like the band...that symbol, I'm sure I've seen it somewhere before..." she trailed off, turning back round to be met with our questioning stares. She shook her head.

"N-Never mind. Let's just go."

With that, we made our way upstairs to the third floor, took the first left as the man had said and found ourselves standing in front of a pair of double doors, the small sign above it reading 301.

"I don't like this." Carmen spoke suddenly, looking worried.

"Why?" Melissa asked, "What's not to like?"

Carmen shrugged, fiddling with her sleeve. "I just...call it a gut feeling or whatever. I just don't feel right."

I ignored her, turning to face the door. It was stupid, what she was saying. There was nothing wrong here. And yet my hand was trembling as I reached out and grabbed the door handle.

"H-Heidi?" I heard Melissa say behind me, "Are you sure about this?"

I bit my lip, nervous. "Nope." I replied cheerily before rearing up and kicking the door open.


	3. Confrontation

~~Natasha~~

Room 301 was huge, stretching out as far as the eye could see. On the far wall, the same as with all the other classrooms, there was a large, dark green chalkboard covered with that strange foreign writing. The rest of the massive room was taken up by rows and rows of large desks, set out in uniform lines. And filling up the entire room was a large crowd of kids, all around our age or older by the looks of it; all with the same hostile expressions of contempt on their faces.

My body burned from the heat of their ferocious glares and I had to look away, avoiding making eye contact. Beside me, Diane coughed awkwardly; she was probably feeling as uncomfortable as I was.

"I...I don't think we should be here..." I whispered to the others, still averting my gaze from the malicious crowd. Diane bit her lip.

"I wanna leave..." she mumbled in agreement.

"But where else are we gonna go?" Riley argued.

"Anywhere's better than here." I hissed back. I risked a glance back at the crowd, who seemed to still be watching us closely. I turned to face the doors just a few feet away. But before I could do so much as take one step, the door was suddenly flung open and in tumbled three new people, a group of girls.

All attention was immediately drawn to them, and my gaze darted between them, taking in their appearances. One had bright, auburn hair, cut to just below her chin and was glancing around, her hazel eyes wide. The second one had short, dark hair with blonde highlights, and had her gaze glued to the floor, biting her lip nervously. The third girl also had brown hair, held up in a ponytail and was staring with wide brown eyes around the room. It only took a few moments before my mind clicked and I recognized them as my friends: Carmen, Melissa and Julia.

Without a second thought, I bounded over and flung my arms around Carmen, causing her to shriek loudly in surprise. After the initial shock had worn off the rest of the group started hugging and squealing with excitement, the hostility of the crowd fading into insignificance now we were all together; and it wasn't long before questions starting flying back and forth between our little group.

"I can't believe it! You guys are here too?"

"How did we even _get_ here?"

"Where the _fuck_ are we?"

This last retort was from Carmen, who seemed to feel the need to shout it out at the top of her lungs.

"You're at _Disneyland_; and I'm Ronald Mc-_fucking_-Donald!" Julia snapped back sarcastically.

"Oh, ha ha." Carmen said dryly, sticking her tongue out at the brunette. "Seriously though, where are we?"

"You're in the Chunin Exams." An obnoxious voice replied, "Though how bunch of pathetic losers like you got in here, I'll never know."

A few sniggers rippled out among the crowd at this. I spun round to get a look at the speaker: a tall boy, our age, maybe older with short dark hair and steel coloured eyes, narrowing into a glare when they locked with mine.

"Why don't you suck my _dick_!" Julia snapped at him. The boy's glare only intensified and he jumped down off the desk he was perched on, his fists clenched.

"What'd you say to me, you little bitch?" he snarled. Julia didn't seem the least bit intimidated by him.

"I _said_: Suck. My. Fuc-"

Melissa clamped a hand over Julia's mouth, silencing her.

"Shh! Will you _shut up_!" she hissed, frantic. "Are you _trying_ to get us all killed?"

Julia yanked her hand away. "He started it!" she complained childishly.

"I don't care who started it; I'll finish it!" Riley threatened.

The boy clenched his jaw, looking like he wanted to say more but before he could the door was flung open again and a group of around six people, wandered into the large room: two girls and four boys. One of the girls had long, blindingly blond hair, tied up in a pony tail and sharp blue eyes. The other girl had short black hair with a strange dark blue tint to it and pale lavender eyes.

All of the boys of the group had the same dark brown hair, though in varying styles. One had a large coat with a fur-lined hood and red marks painted on both cheeks. Another boy, a good deal fatter than the others, was munching on a packet of crisps. He also had symbols painted on his cheeks in the form of red swirls and he had a long white scarf wrapped round his neck.

The third boy had a pretty creepy look to him, probably because his face was covered by the high collar of his coat and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark shades. The last kid I could've almost mistaken for a girl because of his long hair which was held up in a ponytail. He had an expression on his face like he _really_ didn't wanna be here...kinda like how I felt.

I let my gaze wander over the group, feeling a strange sense of familiarity, almost like I'd seen these people before somewhere.

But that was impossible...right?

I turned round to find that my friends had taken advantage of the fact everyone's attention had been diverted by the newcomers and scampered off to the far corner of the room where they were now huddled in a tight circle; whispering frantically amongst themselves. Seemingly, no one had even noticed or cared that I wasn't there, which I have to say stung a little. I risked a glance around before bolting across the room to my friends.

"I don't _believe _this!" Melissa was saying, "What the _hell_ is going on? What are we even doing here?"

"I don't even know where "here" is..." Diane sighed.

"Maybe this isn't even real...?" Carmen suggested, "Y'know? Maybe...Maybe this is all just a dream?"

I rolled my eyes. "It _can't _be a dream. It's not possible for us all to be dreaming the same dream."

"Well...maybe you're not really here." Carmen said, staring at me, her eyes narrowed with suspicion, "Maybe you're just an illusion."

"_Maybe_ you should shut up." I shot back, scowling.

"You can't tell me what to do!" she retorted. "You're not real!"

"I am going to _hurt _you."

"You can't hurt me! You're not-"

I raised my clenched fist threateningly and Carmen shrieked in alarm before ducking behind Riley.

There was a loud slam as the door to Room 301 was flung open yet again and every pair of eyes immediately turned to the newcomers who had just entered. It was another small group of three kids: two boys and a girl, a year or two younger than us.

The girl had bright bubblegum pink hair (dyed...had to be) and green eyes which darted around the room nervously. One of the boys had blonde hair, spiked up and blue eyes, with strange marks on his cheeks that looked a lot like whiskers of some sort. The other boy had raven black hair, spiked up at the back, making him resemble a cockatoo. I suppose, he _could_ have been considered quite handsome but I found my gaze lingering on the blonde boy.

Not because he himself was particularly good-looking, nor was it because of his bright orange jumpsuit.

No...it was because, despite how irrational it sounded, I _knew _I had seen him before.

But where in the hell would I have seen somebody that...well, strange?

"Naruto!" Riley suddenly shrieked, surprise and delight in her voice. The blonde boy jerked his head in our direction, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Huh? Did someone just say my name?" he asked.

"Yeah, right!" the pink-haired girl said scornfully, "No one here even know who you are, Naruto! Let alone your name."

"They'll know my name when I'm Hokage!" he yelled out.

"Hey! Cut that out!" the girl snapped, "Quit drawing attention to yourself!"

I turned away from the strange group standing by the doors and back to my friends. They all had flickers of recognition their faces as everything slowly clicked into place and the realization dawned on them.

We were in the anime, _Naruto_! Literally, in it!

Some of us looked delighted, others looked somewhat horrified, although I think we were all still pretty confused as to how this could've happened.

"Oh...my God." Carmen gasped.

"We're in _Naruto_! This is fucking awesome!" Melissa squealed.

Julia whooped. "I am going to Chidori the _shit _out of _everyone_!" she yelled.

"But I haven't watched the show in years." I complained, "I can't remember half of what happens! What bit are we even at?"

"It's the Chunin Exams. It's gotta be." Melissa said.

"We're gonna be ninjas! _Ninjas_!" Riley shrieked, jumping up and down, hardly able to contain her joy.

"Wait a second," I said, "Hold up. Did you just say we were in the Chunin Exams?"

Melissa blinked, "Uh...yeah."

"The Chunin Exams?" I repeated. "Isn't that, like, the hardest test ever, where countless people have died?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Well, fuck me!" I said.

"Could someone _please_ tell me what the hell's going on?" Diane demanded. The rest of us shared a worried glance. Diane was the only one out of all of us who had never watched _Naruto_. She hated the show; no, scratch that, hated every anime in existence.

Which was going to make things a lot more difficult.

"Um, well..." I started awkwardly, "The thing is...d'you remember when we were always talking about that anime, _Naruto_?" Y'know, the one about the ninjas?"

She frowned, her face crowded with confusion before the memories came back and her expression cleared.

"Oh yeah! Now I remember." She laughed, "That show was _so_ fucking stupid. What about it?"

"Well...we're sorta...in it."

"You what?" she asked, frowning.

"I said we're in it. The anime, _Naruto_. We're literally _in it._"

"Yeah, great joke." Diane scoffed, though she wasn't laughing now. "That's not even possible. Quit making shit up."

She glanced around the group at our grim faces, the panic starting to mount.

"Y-You've gotta be kidding. Seriously? Are you _seriously_ telling me we're in that stupid Japanese cartoon? Are we?" she said.

"'Fraid so." Julia replied.

"But...But I _can't_ be here! I hate this awful show! It's so boring and stupid and pointless!"

"Stop complaining!" Melissa snapped, but her remark was lost on Diane who had yanked her cell phone out and started tapping away on the little keyboard.

"I-I can't get a signal!" she cried, close to hysteria, "You guys! I can't get a signal!"

I could only sigh heavily as my best friend went into complete meltdown.

"...If I can't get a signal then t-that means there's no internet. No internet means no Facebook, no YouTube...and if there's no YouTube t-then...no Justin Beiber!" Diane wailed, starting to cry.

"What a baby..." someone muttered: an older who was perched on a desk a few feet away, glaring at us. Diane must've heard as she suddenly whirled round to face the girl, her expression furious.

"I hate you!" All because of this stupid fucking show, I have to live in a world without Justin Beiber!" she cried. Melissa, who was seemingly fed up with the blonde suddenly reached over and grabbed her by the shoulders, giving her a quick shake.

"Alright, you listen to me!" she hissed, "This is some serious shit we've got ourselves into. There are some really, and I mean _really_ fucked up people here and if you don't watch yourself you are going to die. And I don't mean the 'Oh-my-God-if-my-Dad-doesn't-get-me-the-new-Justin-Beiber-CD-for-my-birthday-I-am-totally-gonna-die' die; I mean properly _die, _die. You understand?"

Diane just stared at her with a vacant expression on her face. "But...my Dad really _did_ get me the new Justin Beiber CD for my birthday...in fact, what the hell are you even talking about?"

Melissa sighed, "Forget it. I give up! You're on your own."

"What?"

I bit my lip and glanced over my shoulder, worried their bickering might be attracting unwanted attention. Luckily no one seemed to be watching us; most of the large crowd had diverted their attention to the group by the door.

I let my gaze wander over the room, taking in all the different people, lingering on one boy in particular...

He looked around seventeen or eighteen years old. His hair was silver and long, held back in a ponytail. (What is it with the men in this show and ponytails?) He was moderately good looking, I suppose if you're into that sort of thing, but...there was something off about him...something I couldn't quite put my finger on. He had a dangerous glint in his dark eyes behind those round glasses. He was watching the group by the door (the Rookie Nine, if I remembered right) like a hawk, a strange look on his face.

"Oh my God!" I heard Carmen squeal from behind me, "There's Sasuke Uchiha! He's so _hot_!"

"Get a grip!" Diane snapped, "He's a fucking cartoon character."

She obviously wasn't taking this whole thing too well...

"Yeah, I wouldn't hold your breath." Riley said, "This is the Chunin Exam after all. He gets totally ass-raped in the second part by that guy and goes even _more_ emo."

Carmen blinked, "That guy? You mean...Naruto?"

"No! It's that guy...Y'know, the dude with the long black hair, looks like Michael Jackson, has a fetish for little boys? Y'know the guy...what's-his-face, err..."

'_Orochimaru!' _I thought, as the memories came flooding back suddenly, _'That means... the guy with the ponytail...must be Kabuto!'_

I glanced back in his direction, my heart slamming hard against my ribs when I saw he was now watching our group, his eyes narrowed. I spun back round, sure I could feel his eyes burning into my back. But why was he suddenly paying attention to _us _of all people?

And then it hit me.

He must've heard us talking and realized it was about Orochimaru...and considering the whole thing about him being in the Chunin Exams was supposed to be top secret...then of course he was going to be suspicious! Which could be dangerous for us...if Kabuto thought we knew something about their plans, then...

I shudder at the thought.

"Orochimaru!" Carmen yelled out suddenly, making me jump. "That's the guy, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah!" Riley laughed, "Creepy bastard!"

"Well, obviously we have a rapist, in the Leaf Village." Julia joked, putting on a Alabama accept, "Aaand, he's climbin' in yo windows, he's snatchin' yo people up, tryna rape 'em. So ya'll need to hide yo kids, hide yo wife, and hide yo Sharingan, cos he rapin' everybody up in here."

I cringed. "Oh my God, shut _up_!" I hissed, though I already knew it was virtually pointless. There was no way _he _hadn't heard.

"Excuse me." A voice said from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Kabuto himself standing right by my elbow, as if he'd just materialised there.

I think it's fair to say I practically jumped out of my fucking skin.

"Jesus _fucking _Christ!" I screeched, "Don't _do _that!"

He blinked in surprise, glancing down at me as if he'd only just noticed that I was there.

"Oh, sorry." He said light-heartedly, his tone indicating he was anything _but _sorry. He turned his attention to the rest of the group; Riley and Carmen in particular.

"I overheard you talking just now, and I'm probably not the only one. Unless you want to draw attention to yourselves I'd watch what I was saying if I was you." He said.

"Is that a threat?" Melissa demanded, scowling at him. For a second I could've sworn I saw him change, his expression turning malicious. The next moment, however, it was gone and he gave a falsely friendly smile, putting his hands up in a defensive manner.

"No, of course not. I'm just sayin'." He said. His expression grew more serious suddenly. "But...I think it would be best if you _didn't _mention Orochimaru." He went on, voice slightly quieter.

'_Cut right to the chase, don't you?'_ I thought.

"And why not?" Melissa said, obviously still suspicious of him. Then again, she had every right to be. She'd watched the show more than I had. She knew better than any of us, what he was like. He blinked at her and pushed his glasses further up his nose, before continuing to speak.

"Orochimaru was one of the three Legendary Sannin, an extraordinary Shinobi. But a few years ago he was caught conducting horrific experiments on innocent civilians of the Leaf Village. When the Hokage found out, he promptly banished him and he's been missing ever since. His name is...something of a taboo in the Leaf."

"And how come _you_ know so much?" Carmen spoke up.

He shrugged carelessly. "It's common knowledge in the Leaf Village." He replied, "Like I said, it only happened a few years ago. But no one's heard anything of him since then."

"Not even you?" Melissa asked sweetly, feigning innocence. He flinched as if she'd hit him and his hand moved to his glasses pushing them up again, the lenses catching the light. The dangerous glint in his eyes was more eminent now than ever.

"I hope you're not trying to imply that I'm somehow _involved _with Orochimaru?" he said, his tone sinister.

"Don't you mean _Lord_ Orochimaru?" Melissa sneered, almost taunting him. I cringed.

"_Shut up_!" I hissed desperately, though it was already too late. The damage had already been done. Melissa shot a glance at me and bit her lip. She knew herself she'd pushed it too far. Kabuto scowled at me, his gaze then wandering over all of our group; an unreadable expression on his face. He reached up with his hand and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I don't know what you kids know," he snarled, "Or rather, what you _think_ you know...but I would advise you not to get involved in something that _doesn't_ concern you." He smirked and gave a shrug, "Otherwise...who knows? Someone might end up getting hurt...or worse..."

His words sent a chill down my spine. A heavy silence descended upon the group. Melissa swallowed, her face a shade paler than usual.

"S-So...was _that_ a threat?" she asked nervously. Kabuto never replied, just smiled that falsely friendly smile before turning and walking away.

I let out a breath of relief, thankful that he'd gone and left us alone...Even so, his sinister words still rang in my ears and after a quick glance around the group I could tell I wasn't the only one left feeling shaking up.

"Well, now what are we gonna do?" Carmen moaned.

"How about leave?" I suggested.

"Leave?" Riley repeated, incredulous, "But why? I thought we were gonna get to be ninjas and do ninja stuff and shit."

"Fuck that!" I said, "You heard what _he _said." I gestured to Kabuto who was now talking to the Rookie Nine over by the door. "He was _threatening _us. And what happens to us if he tells Orochimaru about us? What then?"

Riley looked away, not answering.

"I say we get out while we still can, screw this whole Chunin Exam and try and get home."

"I think-" Carmen started to say, but she didn't get to tell us what she thought as she was cut off by a certain big-mouthed blonde.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" he bellowed, his booming voice carrying to every corner of the large room, "And I'm gonna beat every one of 'ya! Believe it!"

He flashed a cheek y grin, stretching his hands behind his head.

"What an absolute ass-hat." Diane remarked, glowering at him.

"Leave him alone!" Riley said, "I think he's adorable!"

"He's a bloody cartoon!" Diane snapped back.

"So?"

"What the _hell _are you doing?" the pink-haired girl next to the blonde boy shrieked, grabbing him in a headlock, "Take no notice of him e-everyone..." she continued nervously, addressing the hostile crowd before her, "H-He...it was just a joke...my friend's a bit of an idiot a-and..."

She rambled on, apparently unaware that no one was actually listening. I sighed, agitated.

"Can we _please_ go now?" I hissed to my friends. Melissa glanced at me and shook her head.

"I don't think that's a good idea...especially not now when a fight's about to break out." she said.

I blinked, confused, "What? A fight?"

"Yeah, the three Sound Ninja. Remember?"

When I still looked blank, she just pointed at the door where the Rookie Nine and Kabuto were gathered. Sure enough, just as I had turned to look, something kicked off. There were a few blurs of movement from within the crowd and suddenly a boy with dark spiky hair leapt into the air, high above the crowd. He pulled out a pair of strange shaped knives and hurled them at Kabuto. The silver-haired boy ducked and flung himself backwards out of the way of the knives, skidding across the floor. Another boy, his face covered in bandages materialised right in front of Kabuto and swung a fast punch, which the older boy dodged easily; a smug grin on his face. The smile quickly turned to a grimace as the lenses in his glasses suddenly cracked, sharp shards falling to the floor.

He collapsed to his knees, shuddered and threw up violently on the floor.

"W-What? Did he just..." Naruto gasped, shocked.

"Kabuto! What's wrong?" Sakura asked. The pair ran over to help as the three Sound Ninja stood glaring down at him. Everyone was watching them now.

"Not so tough now, are you?" the one with the bandaged face sneered. "Maybe that's why you're on your seventh try."

"Write this down on your little cards, punk!" spat the spiky-haired boy, "The Genin of the Sound Village are gonna be Chunin when this is over. Guaranteed!"

I heard Riley snort beside me. "Yeah, right." She muttered sarcastically.

I was half-expecting someone to say more but without warning there was a sudden loud bang, like an explosion from the far end of the room. A large cloud of smoke had suddenly formed and from it an ear-piercing voice bellowed out:

"Alright you baby-faced degenerates! Pipe down and listen up!"

The smoke cleared away quickly to reveal a group of people lined up in front of the chalkboard. The tall man in the middle, the speaker, fixed everyone in the room with a cold, hard glare before continuing to speak:

"I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor for the first exam, and from this moment on, your worst enemy..."


	4. The First Test

~~Carmen~~

Everyone in the room immediately froze in place, gazes fixed on the menacing man standing at the front of the room, known as Ibiki Morino, the proctor for the first exam. His piercing gaze swept over the room, coming to a halt on the group by the door.

"First things first," he announced loudly, pointing a finger accusingly at them, "You candidates from the Hidden Sound. Knock it off! Who told you, you could fight? You want me to fail you before we've even started?"

The Sound Ninja with the bandaged face, turned in the proctor's direction.

"Sorry about that." He rasped, "It's our first time...I guess we're just a little jumpy, Sir..."

Ibiki just smirked at the strange boy, before turning his attention to the rest of the candidates, including us.

"Now, if you're all ready, we can proceed to the first stage of the Chunin Exam." He continued. "Everyone line up and you will each be given a number to determine whereabouts you will sit."

There was a moment as the room descended into an uneasy silence, before noise erupted from all around us as everyone almost simultaneously got up from their seats on their desks and made their way to the front of the room, where some of the other adults were already starting to hand out slips of paper. The noise level increased as the teams started talking amongst themselves.

"What do we do now?" I heard Melissa say from beside me, raising her voice to be heard over the pandemonium.

"I think now would be a good time to _leave_." Natasha said urgently, her expression mirroring her tone of unease. I suppose she was still pretty spooked about our run-in with Kabuto.

Hell, I couldn't blame her. I was sure we all were. He _was_ one of the 'bad guys' in the anime after all. He had never really been my favourite character anyway. Far from it, in fact.

"But...But I don't _want _to leave!" Riley protested. "This is _so_ cool! I mean, we can get to be ninjas and stuff!"

"No, Riley, we can't!" Natasha snapped suddenly. "These people are ruthless; we can't compete with _them_! They were probably training to kill people when we were still playing with dolls. We're not gonna stand a chance!"

There was a moment of silence as the rest of the group digested this. As much as I hated to admit it myself, Natasha spoke the truth. Considering what we were up against, there wasn't really any way we could stay here without some bad shit happening.

"So...what? That's it?" Julia said, "We're just gonna get the fuck outta here? Find a way home?"

"How can we find a way home?" Melissa said bitterly, "We don't even know how we got here in the first place."

"We'll figure something out." Natasha replied.

"Right. Let's go then!" Diane said haughtily, turning on her heel and heading for the door; not even attempting to disguise her eagerness to leave.

The rest of the group followed after her, sticking close to the back wall in an effort to remain inconspicuous. I noticed quite a few of them, namely Melissa and Riley, were looking a lot less enthusiastic than the others. Then again, it wasn't really surprising. They _were_ die-hard _Naruto _fans after all. To them this was probably a dream come true, and the prospect of having to leave was probably less than appealing.

'_I suppose...I don't really wanna leave either...' _I mused, as I followed behind the others, _'But then again...it's probably for the best...'_

I felt a sudden odd prickle at the back of my neck, making me freeze. I hesitated, glancing over my shoulder at the mass of people still chattering loudly amongst themselves; not even looking in our direction. None of them even seemed to notice we existed.

Or so it seemed.

As my gaze wandered over the many heads, my eyes locked with a pair of malicious, dark ones, piercing, behind their round rimmed glasses.

'_Kabuto...' _I thought, with a grimace.

He raised a hand, pushing his glasses up his nose, causing them to catch the light. Behind the lenses, I saw his eyes dart to the side. I followed his gaze, my heart slamming against my ribs when I realized he was watching my friends. I quickly glanced back in his direction, in time to see him making his way towards me.

Panic rose up in my chest, and I turned and ran; so intent on him not catching up to me, I wasn't watching where I was going and ended up crashing right into Melissa.

"Watch it!" she said sharply, scowling at me.

I barely spared her a glance, too busy watching over my shoulder for Kabuto. I could see he was still watching us, his eyes narrowed slightly behind his glasses. Thankfully, he hadn't moved any closer, instead hovering a good few feet away...although, in some ways, that only made me feel even _more_ unsettled.

"Why aren't we leaving yet?" Diane snapped, obviously losing patience.

"The _fucking_ door's stuck!" Julia hissed, tugging on the handle, unsuccessful in her efforts to get the "fucking" door open. Diane sighed, shoving her out of the way and jiggling the handle up and down.

"Why won't it _open_!" she shrieked, already becoming desperate.

"'Cos you're doing it wrong!" Melissa said, exasperated. "It's a _slide _door. You _slide _it open!"

"I _am_ sliding it!" Diane snarled. Something rattled, rather loudly, as she shook it again. I cringed at the noise, afraid we were drawing unwanted attention to ourselves.

"It's locked..." I said, as the realization sunk in.

Diane slammed her shoulder into the door in frustration. "Why the _fuck_ would they lock it?"

Natasha sighed. "We should've left earlier. We could've been long gone by now."

"Oh well..." Melissa said, feigning pity, "Guess we have to stay here then."

Julia glared at her, "This is all _your _fault!" she snapped. "If you hadn't gone picking a fight with Kabuto, we wouldn't be in as much shit as we are now!"

Melissa turned on her, livid. "Don't you _dare_ try to pin this on me!" she hissed. Julia scowled and gave her a hard shove.

"Shut up!" she snarled. "It _is_ your fault! You just won't admit to it. You never do!"

"Guys, c'mon!" Natasha said, stepping between the pair before they could come to blows. "Obviously, it's Carmen's fault."

"What?" I said. "How the hell is this _my _fault?"

"This whole thing started when we were going to your sleepover. If we hadn't gone this wouldn't have happened!" Diane replied, turning on me too.

"That's the stupidest fucking thing I ever-!"

"Hey! Why haven't you girls taken your seats yet? The exam is about to start!" a menacing voice boomed from behind us. I whirled around to see none other than Ibiki Morino himself, standing a few feet away and scowling horribly at us. There was still a good number of other candidates who were milling about, trying to find their seats; although most of them had already taken their assigned seats, and had turned round to stare at our little group huddled by the door. I felt my face flush under their gazes, wanting desperately to run and hide under a rock somewhere.

Julia, on the other hand, didn't seem to share my feelings of embarrassment. In fact, she hardly seemed to even notice the many eyes fixed on her.

"Uh...yeah, we umm, decided we don't wanna do the test so, y'know we're just gonna haul ass outta here." She said, nervously. Ibiki arched an eyebrow, a slightly amused look on his face.

"Tough!" Ibiki barked. "You're here now and you're playing by _my _rules, and I say everyone in this room is participating in this exam, whether they like it, or not!"

"B-But-" Diane stammered.

"No buts! Get a number, take your seats and stop wasting my time with pathetic excuses." The proctor snarled.

Our small group immediately scrambled to do as he had said; none of us keen to stick around and irritate Ibiki even further. I was handed a piece of paper with the number 92 printed on it. Glancing back, I saw most of my friends had also received their numbers and were now among the few left still wandering up and down the aisles trying to find their seat. If my seat was number 92, I guessed I must be up near the back of the room.

It seemed as good a place as any to start looking.

I hadn't gone very far before I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see a bewildered Diane standing beside me.

"Um...I dunno where I'm going..." she said, almost mournfully.

"What's your seat number?" I questioned. She flashed the piece of paper at me. 91. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. I wouldn't have to worry about being stranded on my own then.

"You're gonna be next to me." I said, showing her my number with a smile. Diane didn't seem to share my enthusiasm.

"I wanted to be with Nat..." she sniffed. I scowled at her. Ok, so it was understandable that Diane was closer to Natasha than anyone else in our group, considering they'd been best friends since Kindergarten...But still...Ouch.

"Thanks." I said sourly. "Sorry, I can't meet your high standards..."

"S'ok." She replied, carelessly. I sighed, grabbing her arm and dragging her further up the aisle, checking the numbers as I went along. It didn't take us too long to find the row where our seats were. I paused at the end of the line of desks, my gaze wandering over the heads of the people seated there; lingering for a moment on a red haired boy sitting only a few feet from me, his arms folded over his chest, staring straight ahead.

I'd seen him before. I was certain of it...Where, I was exactly sure. But he was _definitely_ familiar. It wasn't until he turned to look at me, his black-rimmed, icy green eyes piercing into me that the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. My breath caught in my throat.

Gaara.

Resident psychopath of the _Naruto _series. And he was looking right at me.

No...not at me. He was looking _past_ me. At Diane who was standing at my elbow, glaring right back at him.

"What the fuck are you staring at?" she snapped. His eyes narrowed, the waves of killing intent radiating from him enough to make me shudder. Diane didn't seem to notice however, as she just continued to hurl abuse at him.

"..And what's with your _eyes_? Are you seriously wearing eyeliner? What are you, gay?" she went on relentlessly.

"Diane, shut up!" I hissed. She glanced round at me.

"Why?" she demanded. "What's he gonna do, bite my kneecaps? Seriously, he's, like, a midget or something."

"I'll kill you..." Gaara rasped, his voice sending a cold shiver down my spine. Diane, on the other hand, didn't seem the least bit intimidated.

"Ha! I'd like to see you try, short ass!"

"Seriously, Diane. Cut it out!"

"Why?" she snapped, rounding on me, "I'm not gonna let some vertically challenged _twerp _push me around!"

The red haired boy's expression was thunderous and he looked about two seconds away from completely annihilating Diane, when Ibiki, thankfully, stepped in.

"Get in your seats!" the he barked from across the room, making us both jump. "We don't have all day, you know!"

There were a few sniggers that rippled across the room as we promptly collapsed into our seats; with me sitting as close to my friend and as far away from Gaara as I could possibly manage. The hatred that flowed off of him was making me feel pretty damn nervous, to say in the least. The sound of Ibiki's intimidating voice a welcome distraction.

"...We will now be starting the first test of the Chunin Exam. Do _not_ turn your tests over until I give the word." He was saying, his menacing gaze drifting over the many heads in the room. I was pretty thankful that I had been seated so far back; having him towering over me for this whole thing would be pretty off-putting.

The proctor stretched out his arm, tapping the dark green chalkboard with a small piece of chalk. "There are many important rules to this first test. I'll write it on the board as I explain, but questions will _not_ be allowed, so you'd better listen carefully."

'_Wonderful...'_ I thought sarcastically.

"The first rule: You guys will all start off with a total of ten points. This test is made up of ten questions and each one is worth one point. However, this test uses a subtraction system. Basically, if you answer all the questions correctly, then you keep all ten of your points. But say, for example, if you miss three questions, then you will lose three points and have a total of seven." Ibiki went on, scrawling the rules on the board as he spoke them.

"The second rule: This is a team test. Whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined score of your teammates. So each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to from the initial team total of thirty. The third rule is that during the exam, anyone caught by the testing officers doing sneaky activities, namely cheating, will have two points subtracted for every offence. So there will be some who will lose all of their points during the exam and be asked to leave."

A few gasps of astonishment rang out through the crowd as the proctor's words set in.

"We'll be keeping our eyes on you guys." One of the sentinels seated around the room said, a sinister smirk on his face. Beside me, Diane shuddered. I couldn't blame her. It ain't exactly puppies and rainbows in the _Naruto_ world as it is; it probably seems at least ten times scarier when you have no idea what the fuck's going on.

"...You have to realize that the pathetic ones that get caught cheating will be effectively destroying themselves. As Shinobis trying to achieve the level of Chunin, you have to be proud ninjas. And the final rule...Those of you who lose all of their initial points during the test and those that don't answer any questions correctly...will be failed along with their two teammates."

At this last statement there was a sudden violent uproar from the candidates, voicing their protests loudly.

"What?"

"That's not fair!"

"This is just _stupid_!"

"_Quiet!_!" Ibiki roared. The room instantly descended into an uneasy silence. Ibiki glared at us all, his eyes narrowed as they surveyed the room.

"If anyone _dares_ to question me again, they will be thrown out immediately and withheld from competing in the Chunin Exam ever again. Is that understood?"

A few heads nodded solemnly; though most seemed too intimidated to even speak. Seemingly satisfied with this, Ibiki glanced up at the clock on the wall.

"Ok then...the exam will last one hour. Begin!"

The air was filled with the sound of people flipping their papers over before silence fell once again; only broken by pencils scratching against paper. I turned my own paper over, scanning over the questions. From what I could remember from the _Naruto_ series, these questions were meant to be really damn difficult; so difficult in fact, you had to cheat if you had any hope of getting the answers.

I might have actually given the questions a shot, just to see if I could actually do them...but I couldn't really read Japanese...so that wasn't going to work very well.

The only things that I could legibly read were the question numbers and the last question, printed at the bottom of the page. It read:

'_This question will be revealed 45 minutes after the test begins. Listen to the examiner closely before answering.'_

It did seem pretty weird to me that everything else was written in Japanese, apart from this last question. In fact...it seemed weird that we could even understand anyone...this _was _a Japanese show after all...

I pushed the thought out of my head, hastily. It wasn't worth thinking over now anyway. I had bigger issues to deal with.

"Hey, Carmen?" Diane whispered from beside me, giving me a nudge with her elbow. I turned to her, surprised to see a panicked look on her face.

"What the _fuck_ am I supposed to do? I can't understand any of this!" she hissed, gesturing to her paper.

"Shh!" I said, "Keep it down."

I heard a tapping noise behind her, and glanced over her shoulder to be met with the piercing gaze of one of the sentinels, sitting across the room from me. He smirked before dropping his gaze to his clipboard, marking something on his own paper.

I swallowed nervously, glancing around me.

'_Was that someone else he marked down...or was it me?'_

Either way...I wasn't planning on taking any more chances. Diane was staring at me, a confused expression on her face.

"What's wrong with you?" she hissed. I shook my head at her, pressing a finger against my lips, hoping she'd get the message. She frowned at me, quickly becoming annoyed at my strange behaviour.

I picked up my pencil and hastily scribbled a message on my paper:

_Don't speak to me anymore. If any of them see you speaking to me, we'll get points taken off and we could get thrown out. If you wanna talk to me just write it down._

I glanced around, making sure none of the sentinels were looking our way before I nudged Diane gently, nodding at my paper. Her gaze darted over my writing as she read. She seized her own pencil and scrawled a reply:

_I don't get what's going on here. The guy said we had to get at least some answers down but I can't read any of this!_

She paused momentarily before writing something else as a kind of afterthought. I leaned over slightly to read it (trying to be secretive about it so none of the sentinels would see.)

_And why are we trying to pass this anyway? Shouldn't we just get thrown out? We were gonna leave anyway, before this stupid thing started._

_We might as well stay while we're here. _I wrote back, _This thing only lasts an hour, we can try and find a way home afterwards. And don't worry about answering the questions either. None of it really matters anyway._

Diane scowled as she scribbled on her paper:

_This whole thing just sounds like a big waste of time. It's so fucking stupid! I'd rather leave now if I'm honest. I hate this crap show enough as it is, I don't wanna spend more time here than I have to._

I rolled my eyes at her negativity.

_Just bear with it. _I replied shortly. She sighed heavily. I let my gaze wander the large room trying to pinpoint where the rest of my friends were sitting. Up ahead, across the aisle to my left, I saw a girl with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a black hooded top, that I was certain was Riley. She was bobbing her head slightly; probably listening to some music. I would've done the same, but I didn't have my iPod with me. To my left I could see Melissa, her head down on the desk, most likely asleep. And in the row in front, Julia was sitting, staring wide-eyed at the boy beside her. Every now and again he would glance up at her, and her face would split into the creepiest smiled I'd ever seen.

Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted Natasha sitting a few rows behind me. She was twirling her brown curls hair round her finger (a nervous habit of hers) and her dark brown eyes kept darting around the room. I suppose she had good reason to be so worried; Kabuto was sitting right next to her, watching her like a hawk watches a rabbit. And by the looks of things he was probably enjoying her discomfort.

Sadistic bastard.

He suddenly glanced up from studying Natasha and locked his gaze with me; his dark eyes narrowing behind his round glasses. I quickly spun back round in my chair, averting my gaze to my own paper. I was sure I could still feel his menacing eyes burning into my back...

I jumped slightly when something nudged me and turned to see Diane staring at me. She nodded at her paper where she had written something else. I squinted at it, trying to distinguish her messy scribble.

_What the hell is he doing?_

I looked back up at her, frowning. She pointed silently behind me, her eyes wide. I turned to see Gaara, sitting rigid; two of his fingers pressed against his left eye, his other hand stretched out on the desk, palm upwards. Sand gathered in his upturned hand, causing an eyeball to form in the centre of his palm.

I felt Diane leaning forward behind me, suddenly interested.

"What _is _that?" she whispered to me, "Is he, like, magic or something?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Diane. He's a fucking wizard." I hissed back, sarcastically. She frowned.

"I thought this show was about ninjas, not wizards."

I clenched my jaw, trying to hold down my irritation. "Diane...just _shut up_."

She scowled at me and started muttering something under her breath as she picked up a pencil, scribbling furiously on her paper. I ignored her, turning my attention back to Gaara just as his hand clenched into a fist, crushing the eyeball in his palm, causing grains of sand to scatter across the desk.

I winced, knowing how ruthless he was...how he could crush a human being just as easily, without remorse. I suppose I had never thought of it before, as I had never considered Gaara as a real person before: only as fiction, as something artificial.

But now, being this close to him and seeing him in the flesh, I could see how truly twisted he was.

And for the first time, I realized how afraid of him I was.

I felt his icy gaze on me and quickly averted my attention to my paper, feigning unawareness. Only when I was sure he wasn't looking, did I manage to relax. Glancing at the clock on the wall I saw the time for the test was almost up. Which meant only one thing...

The tenth question was about to start.

"Alright, listen up!" Ibiki announced loudly, breaking the silence in the room. "Now...before we get to it...There are a few more rules that I'd like to go over for this question."

I groaned inwardly. I'd forgotten about this.

"There's _more_ rules?" Diane hissed beside me. I nodded grimly.

"Allow me to explain," Ibiki continued. "These rules are unique to question ten, so listen carefully. First of all, for this tenth question: You must decide whether or not you will take it."

This earned him a few gasps from his audience.

"We choose?" a voice cried out, "Then, wait a second, what happens if we choose not to take the final question? What then?"

I glanced over at the speaker, who sat to my far right: A girl around my age with bright blonde hair tied into four separate ponytails. I recognized her as Temari, another one of the ninja from the Sand Village.

Ibiki glared at her from across the room. "If, for whatever reason, you choose not to take the tenth question, your points will immediately be reduced to zero. You will fail! Along with your two other teammates."

At this, pandemonium broke out amongst the candidates.

"What the _hell_?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What kind of rule _is_ this? Of course, we're gonna decide to take the question!"

Ibiki just stood silently, waiting until silence fell once again before he spoke.

"The second rule to the tenth question. If you choose to take it and answer incorrectly...That person will lose the right to take the Chunin selection _ever again_."

Yet again, there was a violent uproar against Ibiki's rules and yet again he stood over the candidates with a grim look on his face, waiting for silence.

"You guys were just unlucky. This year, it's _my_ rules." He said with a smirk. "However...I am offering you a way out. Those of you that aren't confident can choose not to take it...and try again next year. Now those of you that do not wish to take the tenth question, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, you can leave."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Diane raise her hand slightly. I shot her a vicious look. She froze, staring back at me for a second, before quickly dropping her hand with a sheepish smile.

"I was just kidding..." she scoffed, "Kinda..."

There was movement from a good few desks in front of me that diverted my attention from my friend. I saw a shaky hand raised up in the air over a blindingly bright head of spiky blonde hair.

Naruto.

'_Ah, shit...' _I thought to myself. I knew what was coming now.

Overly dramatic speech in three...two...one...

His hand suddenly slammed down on the desk and he leapt energetically out of his seat.

"Don't underestimate me!" he bellowed. "I _don't_ quit and I _don't_ run! You guys can act tough all you want 'cos you're not gonna scare _me_ off! No way! I don't care if I _am_ a Genin for the rest of my life, I'm _still_ gonna be Hokage some day!"

He plonked back down in his seat, as a heavy silence descended on the room.

"I'm only going to ask you once more." Ibiki said sternly. "This is your last chance to quit."

"No way! I never go back on my word. That's my ninja way!" Naruto replied confidently.

Ibiki nodded his head slightly, a smile spreading across his face.

"Good decision. Now, to everyone still remaining: there is only one thing left to say. And that is...congratulations on passing the first test!"

The remaining candidates sat in their seats, staring at the first proctor dumbfounded.

"Uhh...What just happened?" Diane whispered to me.

"I'm not really sure..." I replied quietly.

"What do you mean? We already pass? W-What about the tenth question?" someone cried out from a few rows in front of me. I craned my neck, trying to find the speaker and spotted a head of bubblegum pink hair. Sakura, obviously.

"There never _was_ a tenth question!" Ibiki chortled.

"So, what then? What were the first nine questions for! They were all just pointless!" Temari shouted, clearly pissed off.

"They weren't pointless..." Ibiki retorted. "They had a purpose. You see, the first nine questions were to test your individual abilities to gather crucial information under the most adverse circumstances."

"In English?" Diane muttered.

"Basically, we had to cheat off other people to pass the test." I explained to her.

Diane frowned. "But I thought he said we weren't supposed to cheat?"

"No, what he was _really_ saying, was to cheat and not get caught."

"Ohh...well that's just fucking stupid."

"...I'm sure that most of you came to the same conclusion...that to score points, you had to cheat. But those that cheat poorly, were doomed to fail." Ibiki was saying. He reached up to his head and unravelled his headband that was wrapped around his head. The cloth fell away revealing his scalp, which was a horrific mess of horrible burns and scars. I heard a gasp from beside me and turned to see Diane; her hand clamped over her mouth, her eyes wide.

"What happened to him?" she hissed to me.

"I...It's a long story." I said softly.

"That's just...that's _nasty_!"

"Information can be the most crucial weapon in battle. There will be times when you will have to risk your own life to get it. I want you all to remember this."

The proctor reached up and retied his headband, hiding his awful scars from view.

"You all managed to make it through. The first test of the Chunin exam is now finished. I wish you all good luck in the next test."

"_Yeah_! I did it! I did it!" Naruto yelled excitedly, pumping his fist in the air.

"Wait...so that's _it_?" Diane said, incredulously. "I wasted a whole hour of my life for _this_?"

I rolled my eyes. "Bitch, please! You've wasted more hours of your life watching fucking...Justin Beiber and all that other shit."

"That was time well spent!" she said.

"Yeah, right."

Before Diane could snap back at me, the shit really hit the fan.

There was a tremendous crash as something flew through the window at the front of the room, causing it to shatter into pieces. Diane shrieked in surprised, clutching on to my arm. I heard yells of surprise as the sentinels leapt out of their seats.

I glanced up in time to see a huge brown screen had materialized at the front of the room, obscuring Ibiki from view. Written on the large brown sheet, in white letters were the words:

'_Here comes the second test's Proctor: Anko Mitarashi!'_

A tall woman was positioned in front of it, her left arm extended in the air, hand clenched in a fist. She had purple hair, tied back in a ponytail and wide, dark eyes. She was wearing a brown trench coat, over a black shirt and shorts.

"What...the _fuck _is this?" Diane said. "This shit just keeps getting worse..."

"Heads up, boys n' girls! This is no time to be celebrating!" the strange woman yelled, "I am your proctor for the second test: Anko Mitarashi! You all ready for the second test? Good! Then let's go!"

A heavy silence followed her outburst. She stood with her clenched fist thrust in the air, a manic grin spread across her face. Everyone just sat there, astonished, staring at her.

Ibiki peered round the screen, scowling at her. "You're early. _Again_." He said.

Anko's grin slipped down a notch as her face turned a bright shade of red. She quickly regained her composure as her gaze wandered the room, glaring at the remaining competitors.

"How many of them _are_ there?" she muttered to herself, then addressing Ibiki, "You let all of these guys pass? You're test was _way_ too easy!"

"Or...it could be that there's a stronger group of candidates this year." Ibiki countered.

Anko snorted. "They sure don't look it...Trust me, by the time I'm through with them, more than half will be eliminated..."

Beside me, Diane recoiled. "More than half...?" she murmured.

The purple-haired woman smirked wickedly. "This is gonna be fun...I'll explain everything once we've reached the destination for the second exam. Follow me!"

At her command the remaining candidates rose out of their seats, clambering to find their teammates before following the second proctor as she marched purposefully out of the room. I quickly spotted my friends as they stood up from their seats; Riley tugging her earphones out absentmindedly; Melissa glancing at the shattered window ahead of her; Julia jumping up, sniggering at the boy who had been sitting beside her, as he charged off, eager to get away from her; Natasha scrambling out of her seat, desperate to get away from Kabuto.

Beside me, Diane clutched at my arm, trying to get my attention.

"Hey, Carmen? W-What's going on? What's happening? Where's the second test?"

I froze at her words as the realization suddenly hit me...Now we had passed the first exam, we had no choice but to go through with the second.

And that meant only one thing...

We would have to face the Forest of Death...


	5. Forest Of Death

~~Diane~~

I stood, transfixed, gazing up at the looming chain link fence that bordered the enormous forest. Despite the fact it was a reasonably sunny day, hardly a sliver of light was showing in the impenetrable darkness of the trees. The thought of having to spend up to five days in this awful place was enough to make my blood run cold...

"The hell's wrong with you?" Carmen asked, glowering at me.

"Yeah, you look like you're about to puke or something." Natasha said, flinging her arm round me. "Are you alright?"

"Fuckin' _no_." I said. "I don't want to go in there!"

"It's not _that _bad." Melissa said. "You're just overreacting..."

'_Yeah, right...'_ I thought. Scowling, I glanced around our small group, wondering how everyone else seemed so unfazed by this place. Riley was actually standing grinning to herself, as if she was excited about the concept of going into that creepy place and possible getting ripped to shreds. Julia and Melissa were chatting animatedly to each other, about this stupid anime _Naruto_ by the sound of it. Carmen was busy pacing up and down and muttering to herself agitatedly and Natasha was standing staring rather creepily at me.

"D'you mind?" I snapped.

"...No."

I sighed, "Remind me why I'm friends with you again?"

"Because...I'm your pimp. Which reminds me; where's my money _bitch_?"

I rolled my eyes at her, turning my attention to the other people gathered here, the remaining candidates for the exam. The spiky blonde haired boy from before, called Naruto, after this _stupid_ show, was standing near the front of the crowd, his hand shading his eyes as he surveyed the area. I squinted at him, wrinkling my nose in disgust. He was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit that clashed horribly with his blindingly bright blonde hair. It hurt my eyes just to look at him!

"This whole place just completely creeps my out." The pink haired girl next to him said, noticeably shuddering. I scowled at her back. Why was it everyone in this whole fucking show had to be a complete fucking _freak_? Why in the hell would you want to dye your hair _bright pink_? Why?

The woman from before, who had introduced herself as Anko Mita-something-or-other, smirked smugly. "It should. They call it The Forest of Death. And soon enough you're gonna find out why."

Suppressing the urge to the throw something at her, I clenched my jaw. It was getting to the point where everybody, and I mean _everybody _in this shit pile of a series was getting on my last nerve. I mean, this bitch here, Anko what's-her-face, preferred hurling herself through windows, rather than using doors like a normal person. She wasn't _nearly _as bad, though, as that red-haired little asshole who I'd been sitting next to in the first exam. My gaze wandered over the crowd and spotted him, standing there with his arms folded tightly over his chest, his gaze downcast. I ground my teeth, scowling horribly at him.

'_He's such a little freak! What the hell is his problem anyway? Him and his gay eyeliner! I swear to God, first chance I get I'm gonna smack him in the-'_

I was jolted out of my thoughts when the boy, as though reading my bitter thoughts, suddenly glanced up, his icy gaze instantly locking with mine. I had a moment of sheer panic; my hands momentarily fluttering in front of my face (I think I had actually been attempting to _hide_ behind them) before I quickly realised what an ass I probably looked like and turned round, trying to pretend nothing had happened. I was sure I could still feeling his gaze scorching into my back.

Trying my best to ignore it, I turned my attention to Anko, who was now terrorising the stupid loud blonde kid, hovering way to close behind him.

"You think you're tough enough to handle this?" she hissed in his ear.

'_And just when I thought this couldn't get any worse...'_

A strange person suddenly materialised behind Anko; some long haired freak wearing some sort of robe and a sombrero. His or her, I wasn't entirely sure which, tongue was curled around a strange knife, which he (or she) was holding out to Anko.

"You know, I only recommend you stand that close behind me if you wish to reach a premature end..." Anko snarled. She snatched the kunai knife back, a scowl fixed on her face.

The snake...person's tongue disappeared back into their mouth.

"My pardon." She or he said turning away, "I just got a little...excited."

"That's disgusting..." I heard Natasha mutter from behind me.

Anko smirked and crossed over to the high chain link fence that bordered the forest, turning back around to face us.

"Before we begin the test, I have something to hand out to you all." she announced loudly, addressing the crowd. She reached into her coat and tugged out a large stack of paper. "This is just a standard consent form. Before the test you all have to read it over and sign it.

"What for?" Naruto asked, suspiciously.

"Some of you might not come back from this. And if I don't get your consent then it'd be my responsibility." She laughed uneasily, the noise trailing off when she realized no one was sharing in her joke.

"But before you go in there are some things you need to know." She held the stack of paper out to Naruto, before continuing. "Here hand these out. Now the first thing you need to know is that this test will test _every one_ of your survival skills. In the centre of the forest there is a locked tower, ten kilometres from every one of the forty four gates. It's in _this_ area," she gestured behind her, "where you'll undergo the survival test."

Someone nudged me and I turned to see Natasha holding out a sheet of paper for me. I took it, glancing over it. The words were, unfortunately, written in Japanese, so I had no idea what it said.

"Anyone here read Japanese?" Carmen asked in a hushed voice.

"I do!" Julia said, sticking her hand up in the air.

"No you _don't_!" Melissa snapped.

I turned my attention back to Anko, who suddenly reached into her coat and pulled out a pair of scrolls: one black the other white, holding them out for everyone to see.

"You'll be fighting to get these." She explained, "A heaven scroll and an earth scroll. Each team will get one each which means half of you will be going to get a heaven and the others an earth. To pass the test your team must bring both scrolls to the tower."

"But...then that means...at the very best only half of us will pass." Sakura gasped.

"No shit Sherlock!" Melissa snorted.

"No one ever said it would be easy." Anko replied, smirking. "Oh, and one final thing. This test has a time limit. You must finish it within five days. There are also some ways you can get disqualified." She held up a finger. "The first is simple: if all three members of a team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after five days." She held up a second finger. "Number two: if a team loses a member and cannot continue. But the third, most important rule: none of you, absolutely, _none of you_ can open the scrolls."

"Why not?" Naruto questioned.

Anko grinned devilishly. "'Lemme put it to you this way young man: You. Don't. Want. To. Know."

"Porn." Julia whispered to Natasha. "I _bet you_ it's porn."

Natasha giggled. "Sasuke and Itachi!"

"_Uchihacest!" _ Julia shrieked hysterically as they both broke down laughing, drawing some unwanted attention to themselves. Anko scowled, at the loud pair, sighing.

"The people who get into this..." she muttered, before raising her voice to address the rest of the crowd.

"I have one final word of advice..._just don't die!_"

~X~X~X~X~X~

After Anko's announcement, the crowd quickly dispersed into their individual groups, or drifted away on their own to fill out their forms. I stuck close to my friends, glancing around nervously, unsure what I was supposed to be doing.

"Uh...where do I sign it?" Carmen asked, squinting at the paper.

"On the dotted line, shit for brains!" Julia snapped. "Where the fuck else?"

Carmen scowled at her. "Shut up!"

Rolling my eyes at them, I scrawled my name down on the line, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling I got from doing so. After all...it was all in Japanese. I had no idea what the hell it said; what I was really signing up for...

"Now what?" I demanded once I was done, turning to face my friends. No one really answered me. They were to immersed in studying their own forms. I sighed and glanced over my shoulder, my gaze falling on the forest. The high chain link fence rose up above the ground, the only thing separating me from the horrors among the darkness. It was so gloomy...there could be anything in there. In fact, I was sure I could see something large and slimy looking moving amongst the blackness. I shuddered.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I decided, since none of my so-called "friends" were paying me any attention, to go and take a closer look.

Glancing over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching. I crossed over the grassy plain and made my over to the chain link fence. It looked even taller closer up. Reaching out with my hand, I curled my fingers around the metal, giving it a good shake. It rattled loudly and I promptly let go. Something shifted in my peripheral vision and I leaned closer, trying to peer through the darkness to spot it.

"Well, well, well if it isn't the future failure!" I heard a spiteful voice from behind me. I jumped at the sudden noise and spun round to see a blonde girl with her hair tied up in a long ponytail, standing, hands on hips, her vibrant blue eyes narrowed. For a second I actually thought she was talking to me, but then I noticed the twat with the pink hair was standing there too, only a few feet away.

Kinda surprising actually that I'd missed her. With hair that colour, she could probably be seen from space...

"What'd you say to me, Ino-Pig?" the pink haired girl shrieked, outraged. The blonde smirked cruelly at her, but before she retaliated, her gaze suddenly jerked in my direction, her eyes narrowing further as her expression turned suspicious.

I scowled right back at her. "The fuck are _you _lookin' at?" I snapped. Her eyes widened in momentary surprise before her face transformed into a fowl glare.

"Excuse me!" she snapped, "How _dare _you talk to _me_ like that!"

She took a threatening step forward, malice seeping from every pore. I stood my ground. If it's a fight that bitch wanted, it's a fight she'd get!

Before it could come to that, I was suddenly tackled from behind. I screamed as I lost my balance and toppled over, landing flat on my face. Infuriatingly, I heard that blonde bitch sniggering.

The whore was laughing at me!

I bolted upright to be met with the grinning face of my best friend, Natasha, who was probably the one who had gone and knocked me over.

"What the hell are you playing at?" I barked at her. She didn't seem fazed in the least by my anger.

"And a Merry Christmas to you too." She said cheerily. I just stared at her blankly.

"I don't even know where to begin telling you what's wrong with that..." I sighed.

"And I thought Naruto was weird..." I heard the pink haired girl say. I glanced up to see her shaking her head in disbelief.

"Why would you act like this?" the blonde girl said. "Can't you see if you don't take this seriously that you'll end up getting yourselves killed?"

"Can't you see that you're _fat_?" Natasha shot back.

"What?"

"Bitch, please. You heard me." She sneered, as she picked herself up off the ground and dusted herself off.

"Umm...'lil help?" I said, holding my hand out. Natasha sighed and hoisted me up.

"Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat," she said, addressing other two girls, "but you're both total bitches. Bye!"

With that she turned on her heel and marched off before they could say another word. I had no choice but to follow after her, half running to keep up.

"Why'd you disappear like that?" she demanded as soon as I was within hearing distance.

"What?" I said, intelligently.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "You heard me. Why'd you go running off? We'd be better to stick together if we wanna get out of this alive."

"Wow! Wait a second!" I said catching a hold of her arm and spinning her round to face me. "Who said anything about our lives being in danger?"

She stared hard at me. "Weren't you listening to _anything _Anko Mitarashi was saying?"

"...Who?"

"The proctor! The woman, with the coat and the purple hair."

"No...I was too busy thinking about how much I wanted to punch her in the face..." I admitted. Natasha sighed.

"This is serious stuff, Diane!" she said. "I mean it! If you don't watch your back you _are _gonna end up getting killed."

This statement struck me dumb. "But...this is just...it's just a _stupid fucking cartoon_! How can _this _kill me?"

"_Because _Diane, most of the characters in this 'stupid fucking cartoon' are cold hearted killers. They won't think twice about ending your life if you get in their way."

Natasha glanced back at me, to see the effect her words had had on me. And I'm not gonna lie. They'd gotten me pretty wound up. The anxiety must've shown on my face as she stopped and pulled me into a sudden hug.

"I know, this is all pretty weird for you." She told me. "But you don't have to worry. None of these bastards are gonna hurt you. I'll die before that happens!"

She gave me what was supposed to be a reassuring smile. I forced a grin back.

"Right then!" Natasha said, "Let's get back to the others before Melissa blows a gasket. I think they're starting to hand out the scrolls now."

I frowned in confusion. "What scrolls?"

"Know what? Just...never mind!"

We approached the rest of our group, who were huddled close together and busy talking in hushed voices amongst themselves.

"I found her!" Natasha announced as we reached them. "Are you proud of me?"

Melissa glanced up, her gaze locking on me.

"There you are! Don't go wandering of like that again. You had us worried!" she scolded.

"Yeah, sorry _Mom_." I said.

Melissa frowned at me. "Anyway...as I was saying we need to decide who's going in what group and-"

"I'm with Diane!" Natasha said loudly, latching on to my arm. Melissa raised an eyebrow at her.

"Fine then. Who wants to go with those two?"

Riley sighed, "I guess I'll go."

Natasha gave another shriek of delight and flung her arms round her in a hug.

"I guess that means Julia, Carmen and I will be the second team." Melissa said. With that being said, she turned and, gesturing for the other two to follow her, made her way over to the small shack where they were supposedly handing out these scrolls. The three girls disappeared inside, one of the sentinels tugging a red curtain after them so they were completely hidden from view. A few moments later they emerged and we were called forward to get our scroll.

Inside the shack, Anko was sitting behind a makeshift desk. Asking for our consent forms, she then handed us a scroll, a black one wrapped in white paper with a symbol scrawled on it.

"Looks like we got ourselves an Earth scroll." Riley said, shoving it into her pocket. We left the tent and joined up with the others as another team was called into the shack.

"Which scroll did you get? Heaven or Earth?" Natasha asked Carmen.

"We getted the purple one!" Julia said loudly, yanking her scroll out of her pocket and waving it around in the air like a flag.

"_Jesus!_ Julia!" Melissa hissed, appalled. "Knock it off!"

She snatched it out of the brunette's grasp and crammed it in her pocket, glancing around in anguish.

"Everyone who has an Earth scroll probably saw that and is gonna come straight for us now!" she said.

"Yeah, nice going genius!" Carmen said scathingly.

Julia just kept on grinning, seemingly immune to their words.

"Alright!" Anko announced suddenly, emerging from the shack and taking her place in front of the high chain link fence. "Everyone now has their scrolls. Follow one of the sentinels to a gate and wait there. When the gate opens the test will begin!"

"Well...this is it." Riley said. We all stood for a moment, unsure what to do, nervous expressions on all our face.

"We...We'll be alright won't we?" I blurted out suddenly. "I mean...W-What if we...if someone gets hurt? Or we get ambushed by someone or if...if..."

Natasha pulled me into another hug.

"It's gonna be _fine _Diane." She reassured me. "We're all gonna have each other's backs, right?"

There was a chorus of agreement from everyone in our group. I wiped away my tears and took a steadying breath. I _was _going to get through this.

After all. It was only a stupid cartoon. Right?

We all exchanged a last round of hugs, before we split into our two separate groups. Julia's group going one way, our group going the other. We walked alongside the chain link fence until we reached a gate, guarded by one of the sentinels. Hanging above his head, was a sign that read "Gate Ten."

"My lucky number!" Riley said, grinning.

It was only a few minutes later when the guard reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, unlocking the gate and swinging it open for us.

"The test has begun." He stated. "Good luck to you all."

I glanced past him into the impenetrable darkness which waited beyond the fence, filled with God-knows-what. I swallowed nervously.

"Alright!" Riley yelled. "Into the abyss!"

She charged forward, and had only taken about ten steps before she tripped on something and pitched forward, landing flat on her face.

Beside me, Natasha sighed. "This is gonna be fun..."

X~X~X~X~X

I shrieked as my foot caught on another root and I fell sprawling on to the ground. Natasha and I had both laughed at Riley the first time she fell, I'll admit. But after the first ten minutes we'd all lost count of the number of times we'd each fallen.

There were so many tree roots and plants and other things sticking up out of the ground it was hard _not _to lose your footing.

I picked myself up, dusting off my clothes, barely containing my urge to scream out in frustration.

"We're not really getting anywhere, are we?" Natasha said.

"I don't think so." Riley replied. "In fact, I'm kinda worried, we might be going round in circles."

"This is just fucking _perfect_!" I said, losing my patience. "We're lost in some stupid fucking forest, in some stupid fucking exam and in a stupid fucking _cartoon_-"

"Anime." Riley corrected.

"Whatever!" I snapped. "I don't wanna even _be _ in this stupid _anime_!"

"Take it easy, Diane." Natasha said, trying to soothe me. "Everything'll work out. We just gotta...just gotta get through this."

"I don't _wanna_ do it!" I said, stomping my foot like a toddler. "I'm tired and I'm cold and...and I'm hungry and I really, really have to pee."

Riley glowered at me. "Lovely."

"No, really. I actually do." I said. "Where's the nearest bathroom?"

"You're in a forest, Diane." Natasha said. "There's a toilet _everywhere_!"

"Ew..."

"No kidding." Riley said. "Just go over there behind that tree."

I suddenly felt nervous. "But what if someone _sees me_?"

Natasha sighed. "No one's gonna see you Diane."

"Alright then." I said. "I'll be back in a sec."

I turned and cautiously made my way through the trees, all sense on full alert. After walking on for a few minutes I finally found a well shaded spot where I could relieve myself. Once I'd dusted myself off, I spun around and headed back the way I had come. Ducking under some low-hanging branches I came across where I thought my friends were waiting for me.

"Sorry if I took so long guys. I had to-"

I froze. I was talking to myself. Natasha and Riley were nowhere to be found. My stomach dropped down to my feet and bounced back up again.

Had they...had they _left me_?

I instantly dispelled the thought. They'd never do that. Not to me.

Then the answer struck me. This place was totally unrecognizable. I must've taken a wrong turn and now I'd gotten totally lost. I swore under my breath and made to turn back, when something suddenly moved in my peripheral vision. I swung around, my gaze locking on a shadow standing in the darkness only a few feet away from me. My heart slammed against my chest.

I was being watched...


	6. Technical Difficulties

~~Melissa~~

"_Two trailer park girls go round the outside; round the outside, round the outside_!" Julia warbled, her loud voice bouncing off of the trees. I sighed irritably, pressing two fingers to my temple as I felt the beginnings of a colossal headache. We must've only been in the Forest of Death for around ten minutes or so and Julia was already driving me round the bend...

Since we'd first arrived in the _Naruto _world, none of our electronic stuff had been working properly. First Diane's cell phone and now Julia's iPod. She had spent what had felt like half an hour complaining loudly about it, before she started belting out _Eminem _songs at the top of her lungs to compensate for the loss of her music.

"_Now this looks like a job for me, so everybody, just follow me, 'cos we need a little, controversy, 'cos it feels so empty witho-"_

"Shut up, shut up, _shut the fuck up_!" Carmen shrieked, clamping her hands over her ears.

"_Shut up, just shut up, shut up! Shut up, just shut up, shut up!"_ Julia taunted, grinning manically. Carmen glared at her.

"I am going to _fucking _kill you!"

"_We tryna take it slow, but we still losin' control, and we tryna make it work, but it still isn't the worst, and I'm crazaa-_Aaaahh!" Julia screamed as Carmen suddenly lunged at her.

"Knock it off!" I yelled, wrenching the pair apart. "You've already messed everything up by showing everyone our scroll; now you're going to end up leading them all right to us with the noise you're making!" I said to Julia.

She just rolled her eyes at me. "Lighten _up_, Mel! Quit trying to boss me around; it's not like you're not my Mom."

"Don't tell me to lighten up!" I snapped. "It's bad enough that we're actually having to go through with this exam. We don't need you jeopardizing our chances of passing by acting up all the time."

Julia snorted reproachfully. "You're taking this thing _way _too seriously."

"No, _you're _not taking it seriously enough!"

"Uhh, guys?" Carmen piped up suddenly, her voice wavering. "I think I hear someon-"

"Shut up, Carmen!" Julia yelled. "The grown-ups are talking!"

The red haired girl scowled at her, but instead of retaliating with some crappy comeback, she glanced over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed in thought.

"Stop making so much God damned noise!" I hissed at Julia.

"Why don't you make me?" she sneered, sticking her tongue out. Anger flared up inside me and I gave her a hard shove.

"Shut up!" I snarled. "Why don't you act your fucking age for once?"

The brunette scowled, her good mood vanishing as quickly as my anger had appeared. She lashed out, shoving me back harder.

The rage burned more fiercely and my hands bunched into fists at my sides. I was only about three seconds away from slapping her across the face.

And then I heard the scream.

I flinched, my head jerking in the direction the noise had come from. Julia paled, her eyes growing wide. Her mouth opened for a second but she didn't say a thing. She didn't really need to. I knew as well as she did who had screamed.

I turned and bolted into the undergrowth, Julia right on my heels. I wanted desperately to cry out, to call Carmen's name, but there didn't seem to be any air left in my lungs. I spotted a break in the trees up ahead and increased my pace; but before I'd even gotten within a few feet of the opening a hand suddenly clutched at my shoulder and wrenched me back, causing me to stumble.

Pain flared in my shoulder and I whirled round to see Julia, a finger pressed against her lips. Without making a sound she pointed past me at a small gap through the bushes.

I peered through the break in the leaves, having to bite back on a scream at what I saw.

Only a few feet away, in the middle of the clearing I spotted my friend. Carmen was kneeling in the dirt, her hands clenched into fists, resting on her thighs. Her head was bent, hiding her face from view but I spotted a few stray tears running down her cheeks, splattering on the ground like raindrops. A clump of her fiery auburn hair was enclosed in the fist of a tall boy standing over her. He had dark brown hair and piercing green eyes that were narrowed in contempt. He had headband tied around his upper arm but I couldn't identify what symbol was on it. A scowl was fixed on his face as he looked down at Carmen, his jaw clenched.

"Stupid bitch." He snarled. "Scream like that again and I'll slit your throat!"

My heart slammed against my ribs at his malicious words. I hadn't exactly been able to take this whole _Naruto _thing seriously...It was only now, that I saw Carmen at the mercy of some psychopath, that the full gravity of the situation pressed down on me.  
He was going to _kill her. _Unless I did something _right now_.

I stumbled forward on unsteady legs but had hardly taken two steps before Julia grabbed me again, yanking me down into a crouch next to her.

"Julia!" I hissed, "What are you-"

"Shh!" she said softly. "We can't let them know how we're here."

"B-But we have to...I mean Carmen's...she's-" My voice cracked as my eyes prickled with tears. "They're going to-"

"I _know_. But we _can't _just march up to them like: 'Hey dick holes! Gimme back my bitch before I pop you in the mouth!' because, chances are, that's going to get us _killed_." She risked a glance in the direction of the clearing, probably making sure we hadn't been spotted. "We need to work out some sort of plan first, at least."

"Well, we can't try and fight them...God knows, they've been trained to kill people since they were kids. I've never thrown a punch in my whole life." I said, thoughtfully. "And they'll probably be after our scroll but giving it to them isn't exactly an option. I mean, let's face it; if we give them ours there's _no way_ we'll be able to get our hands on another one before the time limit's up..."

"So what can we do?"

"I don't _know_!" I said, once again close to tears. Everything was quickly spiralling out of my control and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

"Alright, take it easy." Julia said. "We can work something out."

She glanced up again, peering once more into the clearing through the gap in the leaves. Her eyes narrowed suddenly.

"That's weird..." she muttered.

"What?"

"Aren't there supposed to be three people in a team?" she asked. I frowned, confused.

"Um...yeah. Why?"

"Because...I can only see two people out there. And that's not including Carmen." I glanced over her shoulder to see she was right; there was the older boy holding on to Carmen and a younger boy standing at his elbow, his gaze darting around, as he shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. He had the same dark hair and green eyes as the other boy; they were probably related somehow. But I couldn't understand why Julia felt the need to point this out.

"There's only two people there. So what?"

"So where's the third member of their team?" Julia asked, softly. There was a sudden muffled snap from nearby and something shifted in my peripheral vision. I froze, my eyes widening as my gaze locked with hers. A look of understanding passed between us and we both whirled around in the same instant.

I got a brief glimpse of a girl; a flash of raven black hair and hateful green eyes and then something slammed into me with all the force of a ton of bricks. My head snapped back causing the world to spin violently around me. Thorns tore at my skin as I tumbled through the bushes, pain exploding inside my skull as my head slammed against the hard earth.

I was momentarily stunned, all coherent thoughts completely obscured by the deafening ringing in my ears. I raised my heavy head, my unfocused gaze coming to rest on the blurry figure that towered over me. My vision cleared and my breath caught in my throat as I recognized him as the boy who had been threatening Carmen only moments before. Sure enough, the red haired girl herself was still kneeling at his feet, her head now raised, her wide hazel eyes burning holes in me.

The boy smirked cruelly. "Well, well. Looks like Sadako found a couple of rats."

He sneered.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Julia sprawling on the ground next to me, an intimidating figure of a girl towering over her. She must have been the missing third member of the team; the one the boy had been calling Sadako. Her dark hair was cut short, to her jaw line and her eyes were the same icy green colour as the other boy. She could have been considered rather pretty, if her face haven't been scrunched up in a scowl.

"The little freaks were sniffing around in the bushes. Couldn't even work up the courage to come out and face us." She snorted, reproachfully. "_Pathetic_! It's a wonder they even managed to make it this far."

"I wouldn't worry about that, sis. We'll be making sure these sad excuses for Shinobi won't be getting any further in the exam." The dark haired boy said grimly, a malicious look in his eyes.

"Oh, I _bet_ you will." Julia said sardonically. I glanced up to see she was now on her feet, a stupid grin plastered on her face. I sent her a desperate look, silently willing her to stop talking, _now_.  
She didn't even spare me a glance.

The boy released his hold on Carmen's hair, who collapsed forward. With a wary glance in the boy's direction, she quickly crawled over to me on her hands and knees, frantically clutching at my hands, her sharp nails digging painfully into my palms as sobs shook her shoulders. It frightened me to see my friend like this, but there was nothing I could do to help her.

Not now, when there were more important things to worry about.  
Like not getting ourselves killed…

"You bitch!" the girl, Sadako, snarled, her green eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. "Shut your damn mouth!"

"Why don't you _make me_?" Julia jeered.

"You keep talking to me like that and I'll break your jaw!" Sadako snapped.

"Bitch, I'll break your fucking vagina!"

"Don't talk to my sister like that!" the younger boy finally spoke up, his face flushed red with rage.

"Shut _up_, Takeo!" she snapped. "Stay out of this!"

"It's not like you could do anything anyway." The older boy said coldly. "You're too weak. Just keep your mouth shut, Takeo."

I couldn't help but feel sorry for the younger boy, especially when I saw the hurt that was etched into his face. My sympathy instantly vanished, however, when his eyes suddenly locked with mine and the hurt was replaced with a savage contempt.

"Let's finish this." The other boy growled and I froze when something silver flashed in his hand.

A kunai knife.

"Fuckin' come at me, bro!" Julia jeered, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"_No_, Hitoshi! _I'll _deal with her." Sadako said, shooting her brother a warning look.

"Yeah, let _her _deal with me." Julia said mockingly. "You don't wanna go against me, bro. I'll _end you!_ I'll fuckin-"

Hitoshi suddenly lunged at her, moving faster than I could see. Julia screamed as he swung the knife at her. She ducked, missing the sharp edge of the blade.

But only just.

A few strands of her hair were sliced off, and I watched, horrified, as they floated to the ground. Each time Hitoshi took a swing at her, the knife came closer to making a direct hit, to causing some real damage.

I couldn't let that happen.

I couldn't let him hurt Julia.

I leapt to my feet, yanking Carmen, who was still clinging on to my arm, up with me. I opened my mouth to tell him to _stop_, that we'd give them our scroll, just please _don't kill her_.

But before I could even get the words out, there was another scream, of pain, this time and I felt a cold shiver go up my spine as I saw why. Julia staggered back, clutching her forearm, and a thin stream of blood was trickling out from between her fingers.

Seeing she was distracted, Hitoshi kicked out, his foot slamming into the back of her knee, and she toppled, hitting the ground hard. He grinned maliciously, twirling the kunai knife around his fingers.

"This ends _now_!" he roared, holding the knife up high, about to bring it down on Julia's head. Carmen's grip on my arm tightened and I felt my breath catch in my throat, wanting to scream, to tell him to stop, but there didn't seem to be any air left in my lungs to do so.  
And then something very strange happened.

There was a soft thud as some small, white object suddenly slipped out of Hitoshi's pocket and bounced off of the ground. All eyes were immediately drawn to it and I gasped as I recognized it as the Heaven scroll. Julia reacted first, her hand reaching out for it. Hitoshi snarled in fury and threw the knife. Julia's fingers closed around the scroll a second before the kunai hit her.  
Or at least, it _should _have hit her.

Because the moment she touched the scroll, Julia disappeared.

There one second.

Gone the next.

Vanished.

The kunai plunged into the earth. Hitoshi stared at the spot where Julia had been seconds before, bewildered. Sadako gave a scream of rage.

"_You idiot, Hitoshi_! Look what you've _done_!"

He whirled around, Julia momentarily forgotten as he faced his sister.

"What _I've _done?" he yelled. "How the _hell _is this _my _fault?"

"I _told _you; _I _was going to deal with her. But _no_, you just _had _to step in and show off! I _hate _that! You always try to act like you know better than me, Hitoshi! But you _don't_!"

As the two continued bickering, I realized that this might be the only chance we'd have to escape.

"Let's get outta here." I whispered to Carmen. She nodded, her lips pressed together, obviously not trusting herself to speak.

We backed into the trees, waiting until we'd lost sight of the arguing pair, before we broke into a run. The only thing I wanted at the moment was to get as far away as possible from them. Finding Julia would have to come later.

But there was someone else we'd forgotten.

Takeo.

While we'd been occupied with getting away without the other two seeing us, we hadn't even noticed the younger boy had been watching us. As we made a run for it, zig-zaging through the densely pack trees, we weren't even aware that he was following us.

Until he decided to make his presence known.

There was a sudden shout from behind us and I stopped abruptly, startled by the noise. Carmen crashed into me and very nearly toppled me over. I glanced over my shoulder to see the boy himself, scowling at us, a mocking smile pulling up the corners of his mouth.

"Thought you could get away that easily, huh?" he sneered.

"Ah, shit." I muttered.

His grin widened and he turned, cupping his hands over his mouth.

"_Hitoshi_! _Sadako_! They're over here!" he yelled.

"You little _cock sucker_!" Carmen snarled, breaking her silence. She took a threatening step towards him and he suddenly shrank back, afraid.

"Leave him!" I said hurriedly, as I became aware of the sound of running footsteps approaching us. "Let's just go."

Carmen gazed up at me, her hazel eyes wide with fear. "B-But...there's no way we can outrun them-" she started to say.

"_I know that_!" I hissed. "But we might as well try."

Before she could say anything more, I turned and ran, dragging her along behind me. Even though I knew it was hopeless. It was only a few seconds after we started running again that more voices joined Takeo's.

And they were getting closer.

Carmen suddenly cried out as her foot got caught in a tangle of tree roots and she twisted her ankle. She collapsed, taking me with her since she was still hanging on to my hand. I hit the ground hard and clenched my teeth, giving up.

We were as good as dead.

Carmen's hand tightened around mine, her fingernails digging into my skin and I glanced up to see Takeo staring down at us, looking bewildered. His eyes kept darting back and forth, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sadako suddenly appeared next to him, closely followed by Hitoshi.

"Well?" she demanded. "Where are the they?"

Takeo looked shocked. "I-I don't know." He stammered. "I mean...I-I saw them here a second ago, b-but they-"

"You lost them." Hitoshi said, his expression livid.

Takeo turned to him. "No! I didn't. I swear. I don't know what happened, they were here one second and n-now they-"

"Oh, _shut up_!" Sadako snapped. "Just _stop talking_, Takeo. You _lost them_, ok? End of story."

"B-But, I didn't _mean _to-"

Sadako reached out suddenly and slapped the younger boy across the face. His head jerked back from the force of it, his eyes brimming with tears.

"I don't want to hear another word from you, Takeo." She hissed. "Understand? Not. One. _Word._"

He kept his mouth clamped shut, his gaze averted to his feet, as he nodded slowly. Sadako straightened and let out a sigh.

"Right then. We'd better get moving. We'll need to get _another_ scroll, since Hitoshi lost ours."

The older boy scowled, opening his mouth to protest but she cut across him.

"And this time, _I'll _be keeping a hold of it. At least then I'll know for sure we won't lose it. Let's get moving."

She turned and stormed off, without a second glance at us. Hitoshi shot his brother a look of contempt and followed his sister. Takeo wiped his eyes with his sleeve, eradicating any trace of his tears. He glanced once more over the area, his gaze passing over us again before he turned to catch up with his siblings.

I waited until they were well out of sight before I let out a sigh of relief, not even aware that I had been holding my breath. I got unsteadily to my feet, my legs feeling as if they had been turned to water and helped Carmen get up, letting her put her arm round my shoulders to take some weight off of her twisted ankle.

We walked in silence for about ten minutes, each of us lost in our own thoughts. After a while, Carmen started to complain about her ankle and we found a large tree with very low hanging branches that would probably help to keep us hidden.

I pushed the branches out of the way and Carmen hobbled past me, reaching the base of the tree, and sitting down, exhausted. I collapsed next to her.

"M-Mel?" she stammered. "What...What the hell just happened?"

I turned my head to look at her to see that her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

"What d'you mean?" I asked

"I mean when they came after us. T-They were standing _right there_. Like, not even a few feet from us. They were looking _right at us_. But they couldn't see us! H-How is that even possible, Mel?"

I didn't answer her. I couldn't. There wasn't any rational explanation for what had just happened to us. None at all.

"I don't like this." Carmen whispered. "I don't like any of this, Mel. I'm...I'm scared."

"Me too." I said. "Shitless."

"What're we gonna do?" she asked me.

Before I could give her an answer, there was a sudden noise, a cracking of twigs underfoot. We both froze.

"Mel..."

"I know. I heard..."

I got to my feet, eyeing the clearing before me through the low hanging tree branches. I spotted a lone figure, standing forlornly in the middle of the clearing, glancing uneasily at the trees surrounding her. My heart soared as she turned to face me and I recognized her as my friend.

"Julia!" I squealed, shoving the curtain of branches aside and hurtling myself into the clearing. "Where the hell have you be-"

I glanced up and screamed when I saw she standing right next to me. But less than a second before she had been at the other side of the clearing; a good ten or fifteen feet away.

'_How could she move that fast? It's not possible!'_

"Mel!" Julia shrieked, seemingly not even noticing my alarm. She flung her arms round me with enough force to topple me over and I stumbled back through the tree branches and ended up flat on my ass.

"I missed you!" she yelled, right in my fucking ear.

"Ow..." I rubbed my now painfully ringing ear, turning my head away. Carmen cleared her throat noisily and I glanced over my shoulder to see her scowling at Julia, who grinned right back at her.

"I missed you too Ass Monkey." She said as she clambered to her feet.

"_Fuck you_!" Carmen snapped.

"Later." Julia said dismissively. "Right now I've got something to show you guys."

She knelt down next to me and Carmen and, with a flourish, pulled out a white scroll from her pocket; the same one she'd stolen from Sadako's team.

"_Look what I got!_" she sang. "Am I awesome, or am fuckin' awesome?"

I stared at the sign on the scroll, feeling my heart sink down to my feet. Julia saw my expression and her face fell.

"What's wrong?"

"Well...I hate to rain on your parade, Julia." I said reaching into my pocket and pulling out our own scroll, and holding it out next to the identical one in Julia's hand. "But we've already _got _the Heaven scroll."

She stared, disbelieving at my hand, her eyes wide with horror.

"Oh..._shit_."


	7. Stuck In The Middle

~~Riley~~

I stood leaning against a tree trunk, arms folded tightly over my chest; one foot tapping impatiently. Diane had been gone for _ages..._over ten minutes, at least. I glanced over at Natasha, who was seated on the ground a few feet away from me, nibbling on her lip; a faraway look on her face. I pushed myself away from the tree and began pacing back and forth, my irritation increasing with every step I took.

"For Christ's sake!" I yelled out suddenly, breaking the grim silence, "How long does it take to fucking pee?"

Natasha mumbled something incoherent.

"What was that?" I said, whirling round to face her. She glanced up at me, startled momentarily.

"I...I said, what if she..." Natasha paused, swallowed. "What if something's happened to Diane?"

Her gaze locked with mine and I was taken aback by the intense fear in her eyes; by how close to tears she seemed.

"Why d'you always have to assume the worst?" I sighed. "_Nothing's_ happened to her."

"You don't know that!" she shot back, her eyes sharp. I clenched my teeth; unable to think of anything to say.

Natasha suddenly got to her feet, a determined look on her face.

"I'm going after her." She said firmly.

"I don't think that's a good idea-" I started to say, but I hadn't even got the words out before she shoved past me, disappearing quickly into the undergrowth in the general direction Diane had vanished. And since the last thing I wanted was to be left on my own in this ominous place, I hurried after her. Unfortunately I hadn't realized how difficult it would be to keep Natasha in my sights. The trees were growing so close together that it almost seemed like the leaves formed a roof overhead, completely obscuring the sky above. No light penetrated the gloom around me and it didn't take long for me to completely lose sight of my friend. I felt panic starting to eat away at me and increased my pace, breaking into a sudden run, calling out for Natasha as I did so.

My foot caught on something and I stumbled, losing my balance. I fell hard, something digging into my legs as I landed, tearing at my skin. I bit down on a cry of pain, my hands clenching into fists. I glanced down to see that I had landed in a patch of thorns; their razor sharp edges glinting in the dim light. Some of them were coated in dark blood from where I had been cut.

I was so absorbed in studying the wicked looking thorns that I didn't notice the shadow of a figure lurking in the darkness behind me. There was a sudden noise and something shifted in my peripheral vision but before I could turn around a hand suddenly clutched at my arm; wrenching it painfully back. I cried out in surprise, whirling round, fully expecting to see some bloodthirsty ninja about to slit my throat or something. It was almost a letdown when my gaze settled on a rather bewildered looking Natasha instead.

"_Jesus Christ!_" I shrieked.

"Shh!" she hissed, flapping her hands, desperately trying to quieten me. "Shut up!"

"Don't tell _me, _to shut up!" I shot back. "You almost gave me a fucking heart attack!"

She gave me an exasperated look. "I'm _sorry_, ok? But you have to be _quiet._" She whispered.

I leaned in closer to her, finally picking up on her urgency. "Why? What's going on?"

She didn't answer my question, her eyes widening in horror as she glanced down at my legs.

"Holy _shit_, Riley!" she gasped. "What the hell happened to you?"

I frowned at her, confused for a second. I peered down at myself to see what she was talking about. My legs were covered with hundreds of little gashes; the blood that oozed from them running down my leg in thin rivulets. When Natasha had snuck up on me, I had momentarily forgotten about getting my legs torn up by the thorns and now that I had been reminded I could only stare, shocked, at the mess; trying to fight against a sudden wave of light-headedness.

"Riley? A-Are you alright?" Natasha sounded frightened. "You've gone pale..."

I blinked and shook my head trying to dispel the sick feeling.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine." I said. "Just...I just kinda fell, over there." I gestured in the general direction of the patch of thorns. Natasha saw them and grimaced.

"Ouch."

"Uh huh..." I said, wincing at the sting of pain from my wounds; trying my best to ignore it. "What's going on?"

Natasha tore her gaze away from my legs, with difficulty, looking me in the eyes. "Huh?"

"You said before, we had to be quiet. What's going on?"

"Oh, yeah. It's nothing really, I just heard voices and I didn't want us to draw attention to ourselves."

I frowned. "Voices? W-What if it's Diane? Or Mel, Julia and Carmen?" I asked hopefully.

She shook her head slightly. "It didn't sound like any of them."

"Oh..." I said, unable to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

"Even so," she said, "I think we should go check it out just in case. Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and get our hands on a scroll?"

I snorted. "Yeah, right..."

Natasha scowled at me then sighed, pulling herself to her feet. "D'you think you'll be ok to walk?"

I winced as another flare of pain shot through my legs. "I'll manage."

She held her hand out to help me up and I took it gratefully. We made our way cautiously through the thick trees; though I found myself struggling to keep up with Natasha since I was half limping from the pain in my legs. I very nearly crashed right into my friend when she stopped abruptly.

"Natasha! What the fuck are you-!"

"Shh!" she hissed. I rolled my eyes at her.

"What _now_?"

She didn't answer me; her mind seemingly elsewhere. I fell silent next to her, straining my ears, trying to figure out what it was she had heard.

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard the scream.

A cold chill swept over me as realization struck.

"Diane!" Natasha cried. Before I had time to even react she had bolted in the direction the scream had come from, dragging me along behind her. I could barely keep up with her with my injured legs, and found myself stumbling countless times. Natasha came to a sudden stop at a break in the trees, her grip on my arm tightening. I winced as her nails dug in to my skin.

I glanced up only to have my heart leap into my throat at what I saw.

Diane was hunched down on the far side of the clearing, cornered by three menacing figures. They were all wearing black clothes that seemed to blend into the darkness of the surrounding forest. The two shorter members of the team were wearing large domed hats which hid their faces; the third figure towered above the others and had an air of superiority about him. Obviously, the leader of the team. He had two scars running along the left side of his face, one of them running along his eye, rendering it useless. He was scowling down at Diane, a malicious glint in his eyes.

From our hiding place, among the bushes at the other end of the clearing, we couldn't hear what was being said. But judging by the looks on the faces of the Rain Ninja, I could guess...

The tallest of the team members was scowling viciously, his mouth turned down in a grimace. He leaned down and suddenly, slapped Diane hard across the face. She gave a cry of pain, stumbling back.

Natasha's fingers dug painfully into my palm. I turned to see her face twisted into a furious glare, her eyes dark with rage.

"That _fucker_!" she spat, her fingernails digging further into my skin. I winced in pain, but before I could say tell her to stop, before I could say anything at all in fact, Natasha was gone.

One second she was standing right next to me then all of a sudden, it was almost like she blurred out of focus and in the next instant, she was twenty feet away from me, at the other side of the clearing, mere feet away from the group surrounding Diane. She drew back a clenched fist and hit the tallest of the three right in the jaw. He staggered back, his eyes wide with shock.

I could hardly believe it myself.

Natasha was at least a head shorter than this guy, barely reaching his shoulder and yet even from this distance I could see the mark her fist had made on him. And since when had she been able to move so _fast_?

The boy suddenly straightened, seemingly over his surprise, the fierce look of rage back in his eyes.

"You little _bitch_!" he roared, raising a kunai knife in his clenched fist. Fear flashed across Natasha's face and she ducked, just barely missing the blade. I leapt into action, hurtling through the bushes, stumbling from my shaky legs. Halfway across the clearing, my foot caught on something and I fell hard. I glanced up in time to see the taller boy had seized Natasha by her arm and was yelling something in her face. I couldn't hear the words through the deafening ringing in my ears. I couldn't have heard Natasha's reply either. If she'd said anything at all.  
But instead of using her words, like a civilised person, she thought it would be a better idea to spit at him.

Fucking great idea, that.

The older boy glared down at her, for a moment, unable to speak from rage. Then he threw her to the ground with a howl of fury. Diane let out a cry of fear, clutching at her friends hand as he pulled out a kunai knife. I scrambled desperately to my feet, glancing up in time to see him about to bring the knife down on Natasha.

I stretched out my palm, screaming for him to stop. Something cold and metal suddenly collided with my hand and I leapt about a foot in the air. I glanced down to see the kunai knife the Rain Ninja had been holding a second before was now nestled in my own palm. I stared at the knife, shocked into silence. I glanced up to see the three Rain Ninja staring at me, looks off something akin to disbelief on all of their faces.

I swallowed. "I...t-this isn't what it looks like-"

There was a sudden noise behind me. The tall boy's attention shifted over my shoulder, his eyes narrowing to a glare. I turned round, my breath catching in my throat at what I saw.

Standing only a few feet away from me was the infamous team from the sand. Kankuro, Temari and...Gaara. My heart slammed against my ribs at the mere sight of the red haired psychopath. His soulless green gaze rested on me, and for a second he looked like he was about to say something to me, but then his attention quickly moved on to the team of rain ninja over my shoulder and his eyes narrowed into a fearsome glare.

"I want to fight you." He rasped. "Right here, right now."

The Rain Ninja took a sudden step back, surprised. "What did you just say?" he snarled.

With a jolt I suddenly vividly remembered the part of the anime series this was from. My heart leapt into my throat as the realization hit me: one of the most bloodthirsty battles in the Forest of Death was about to take place.

And we were caught right in the middle of it.


	8. Rain vs Sand

~~Julia~~

I stared in disbelief at the two identical Heaven scrolls, one in my hand, one in Melissa's. I couldn't believe that I had fucked up _so badly_.

"Wow...nice going, genius." Carmen sneered sarcastically. My temper flared, my fingers tightenening around the scroll.

"Fuck you!" I snapped, flinging it at her head. It bounced off her forehead with a _thunk _and she shrieked in pain, clutching at her face.

"You _bitch_!" she screeched. "That really hurt! I could've gotten brain damage or something!"

"Bit late for that." I retorted.

Carmen gave a cry of rage and lunged at me. Before she could touch me Melissa hauled her roughly back, scowling.

"That's _enough_." She snapped. "Get a hold of yourselves, both of you!" She sighed heavily and clambered to her feet, glancing quickly around before continuing. "Ok. So fine. Julia did screw up and get us the wrong _fucking _scroll."

I rolled my eyes. That makes me feel _so much better_.

"But that's ok!" Melissa continued, beginning to sound hysterical as her voice steadily rose in volume. "Because we can...we can totally get another one, right? I-I mean, all we have to do is fight against some fucking ninjas; it's not like it's rocket science or anything is it?"

"Sir, I think you need to _calm down_." I said.

"Shut the _fuck up_, Julia!"

I reeled back, amazed, to say in the least. I couldn't believe the way Melissa was acting. She was taking this whole thing _way _too seriously. Reluctantly, I decided it might be best if I kept my mouth shut, at least for a little while. Wouldn't want anyone else to get butt hurt...

Melissa sighed heavily, pressing a hand against her forehead.

"Ok...Alright." she said. "We're just gonna have to work through this little...setback. Whatever. I think, what we need to do is try and meet the others. I mean, sure, this place is fucking huge...But, I'm sure we'll be able to find them somehow..." She trailed off, and turned her back to us, but not before I caught a glimpse of unshed tears in her eyes.  
I shared an anxious look with Carmen.

"Um...are you...are you alright, Mel?"

She turned on to face her, putting on a fake smile. "Yeah. Fine...I'm just...I'm fine. We can...l-let's just-"

"Let's _fuck_?" I suggested, helpfully. She rounded on me, a look of sudden fury on her face.

"Shut _up_, Julia!" she hissed. "Seriously, no one is in the mood right now for your constant fucking around! Either grow up or just fuck off!"

I clutched at my chest, feigning pain. "Ow, Mel! That really hurt my _feeeelings_!" I whined. "Why you so at me mad, bro?"

She just shook her head at me, disbelieving. "C'mon Carmen." She said, reaching over and hauling the auburn haired girl to her feet. "Let's leave this idiot."

"But my foot still hurts!" she complained loudly.

"Tough!" Melissa snapped, dragging her past me and through the overhanging branches, leading her out of sight. I snorted.

"Oh yeah!" I said sarcastically. "Just _leave _me all on my own then!" I ducked under the branches myself and trailed after them. "I mean, I couldn't _possibly _just follow behind you, you fucking fucks!"

Seemingly deaf to my insults, the girls continued on. After a while of having my abuse ignored, I fell silent, trudging miserably along. A few minutes later I got my second wind and resorted back to what I had been doing since we'd first came into this stupid forest: belting out _Eminem _songs as loud as humanly possible.

"_Testing, attention please__, __Feel the tension, soon as someone mentions me__, __Here's my ten cents, my two cents is free__, __A nuisance, who sent? You sent for me?__! Now this looks like a job for-"_

I had been too busy singing my awesome rendition of _Without Me _to pay attention to my surroundings; or the fact that one of the most bloodthirsty fights in the whole of the Forest of Death was taking place, not fifteen feet from us. I was so absorbed, that I didn't even notice that my friends had stopped until I crashed right into them, hurting my foot in the process.

"_Ow! _What the _fuck_?" I yelled.

"Get _down_!" Melissa hissed, dropping to the ground, dragging Carmen with her. I stayed standing, scowling down at the two of them.

"What are you doing?"

"I said _get down_." She repeated, hauling on my arm, almost hard enough to tear it out of its socket. I collapsed beside her, twisting my leg underneath me. I winced, scowling over at Melissa, who was too busy shitting bricks to pay any attention to me.

I glanced up, peering through the bushes into the clearing ahead to see what had gotten her so scared.

My breath caught in my throat as a pair of soulless green eyes rimmed with black shadow locked on me. I fell back, ducking down low in an effort to keep hidden. Everything was coming back to me in a rush now; this was that fight between the team from the Sand village and those Rain village idiots. I remember the bloody outcome of this battle and couldn't stop my gaze wandering to the tallest of the Rain ninja; the boy with the scar running down his eye.

The boy who had less than five minutes to live.

I felt my skin prickle as the feeling of being watched returned. I risked another glance in the direction of the clearing to see Gaara still staring at me.

Wait.

Maybe not quite at me. His gaze fell somewhere over the top of my head. I was still partially hidden by the thick row of bushes lining the clearing. Even though it didn't really matter anyway. We weren't fooling anybody. They already knew we were there.

I'd made sure of that.

"I know there's somebody out there." Gaara rasped, his Julia eyes narrowing. "Who are you?"

Melissa glanced at me, shooting me a frantic look. I grinned back. I couldn't help myself.

I cupped my hands round my mouth and yelled back gleefully:

"Your _Mom_!"

"_No_, Julia!" Carmen whispered. "Stop it!"

"_I will not be silenced_!" I sang.

There was a sudden dull hissing noise as something scraped across the ground. I could only stare, terrified, as sand suddenly poured out from under the bushes, covering the ground and spilling over my feet, coiling tightly round my ankles.  
I gave a horrified shriek and leapt to my feet. With difficulty, I tried to shake off the sand which had now crawled up to my knees. But nothing would get rid of it and I felt fear overcome me. All of a sudden, everything around me shifted violently and I stumbled back, my legs abruptly freed from the sand.  
My head spun and I glanced around, disorientated. I was no longer crouched down, hidden in the undergrowth surrounding the clearing. Somehow, in the space of less than a second, I had moved a good thirty feet so I was now on the other side of the clearing. Ahead of me, the Rain and Sand ninja were facing off. Or at least, they were _supposed_ to be facing off.  
Unfortunately, Gaara had gotten pre-occupied.

With trying to murder me.

He stared at me, a look akin to confusion on his face. His Julia eyes narrowed into a glare as they rested on me and he slowly lowered his outstretched arm, never shifting his gaze.

"Wow...how did you do that?" A voice behind me asked. I whirled round, surprised to see my friends Diane, Natasha and Riley staring wide-eyed at me.

The hostile ninjas surrounding us were momentarily shoved to the back of my mind as I turned my attention to my friends.

"Oh, hey guys!" I said cheerfully, "Didn't see you there-"

"Don't dodge the question!" Riley snapped.  
I flinched, surprised. "_Excuse_ me? Repeat?"

"Don't act like you don't know." She snorted. "You were all the way over there." She pointed towards the opposite end of the clearing. "And then you just sort of..._appeared_ right there! Just like that." She snapped her fingers to emphasise.

I stared at her blankly. "Ok...And this is relevant because..."

"_Because_, Julia, it's not psychically possible to do that! You can't just be in one place and then be somewhere else a second later. You _can't_!"

I shrugged. "So?"

"So how did _you _do it?"

Of course I knew very well what Riley was talking about. But there was a time and a place to discuss it and, considering our current predicament, now was _definitely_ not a good time.

"Oh! Didn't I ever tell you guys?" I said. "I'm secretly a witch, raised by Muggles."

"Oh for Christ's sake..." Riley muttered.

"That _explains _everything!" Natasha gasped.

"I think this freak show has gone on long enough." Someone snarled from behind me; reminding me abruptly of the bloodthirsty ninja in our midst. I turned to see the tallest of the Rain ninja glaring down at us.

"First these kids from the Sand Village have the _nerve _to challenge us head-on, like they actually think they have a chance against us." He laughed. "And then there's _you_." He scowled at the four of us. "None of you even have headbands. Probably so you don't have to embarrass your own village by acknowledging that you're a part of it." He sneered. "I wouldn't even have to break a sweat to take _your _scroll." He took a threatening step towards us.

"That's enough." Gaara growled, scowling at the Rain ninja. "I'm the one who challenged you. You'll fight _me_."

The older boy turned to him, smirking. "I'd almost forgotten about you." He said. He glanced at us, something sinister flashing in his eyes. "How about this?" he asked, addressing the red haired Sand ninja. "I'll fight against you. And whichever one of us wins, can take their scroll." He gestured towards us.

"What the _fuck_?" Natasha said. "Where's our say in this?"

"Shut up!" the older boy snarled. "Jokes like you don't get a say."

"Yeah, Mud blood!" I laughed. "You don't get a say!"

"I've heard enough." Gaara said coldly. "Let's make this quick. I don't wanna waste any more time on these freaks."

The confident sneer on the Rain ninja's face was instantly wiped off; to be replaced by a look of rage.

"Hey, Gaara." Kankuro spoke up suddenly, before the other boy could. "I was just thinking; wouldn't it make more sense to follow these punks and gather information first? I mean, if they have the same scroll as us, we're just fighting an unnecessary battle."

Gaara's face darkened. "I don't care." He growled. "They looked at me the wrong way. So they're gonna die."

His opponent snapped and in a unexpected move, reached back, snatching the umbrellas that were strapped to his back.

"If you think you can kill us then try it!" he bellowed throwing the umbrellas high into the air. All eyes turned to the skies, including mine.

"Umbrellas?" I heard Diane say sceptically. "_Really_? He's gonna kill someone with _umbrellas_?"

"Shh!" Natasha hissed.

They floated some twenty feet above our heads and started to spin filling the sky with thousands of needles. The Rain ninja grinned maliciously, watching the redheaded boy's face for any signs of fear. Gaara hardly batted an eyelid. He ground his teeth in anger, irritated by the lack of reaction, and clasped his hands together.

"Ninja Art, Senbon Rainstorm!" he cried.

Every single needle that had been levitating in the sky came crashing down on Gaara's head with such force the ground beneath him cracked and a large cloud of dust was kicked up. He grinned triumphantly.

"Yeah...ok." Diane said sarcastically. "That's...I mean that's totally legit."

The Rain ninja took a step forward the grin still plastered on his face. The dust settled and he froze, the smile vanishing. Gaara stood unharmed; not one of the needles had touched him due to the wall of sand that surrounded him from all sides; apart from a small space where his eyes could be seen, glinting sinisterly.

"Is that the best you can do?" he snarled.

"Ok, seriously: What. _The fuck_!" Diane yelled.

"Be quiet!" Natasha said.

Shibure ignored their comments, staring wide-eyed at Gaara, horrified. "Not one wound? That's impossible!"

He clasped his hands together sending a small handful of needles at the hole in Gaara's defence. Without a signal from the redhead the sand moved to intercept the needles. Gaara's expression darkened further.

"A Senbon rainstorm huh?" he said, "I have an idea. Let's make it rain blood instead."

"How is this possible?" the Rain Ninja cried still disbelieving. In answer to his question Kankuro stepped forward.

"It's a special defence that only Gaara can do and is impenetrable. He carries all that sand in the gourd on his back so when he's attacked he can use the power of his chakra to harden the sand so it's almost stronger than steel. It's a jutsu only Gaara can do and somehow it happens almost automatically, independent of his will, so any attacks against him are doomed to fail."

The wall of sand around the red head began to melt away leaving no trace of itself behind save the many needles that had fallen from the sky.

"Just face it. You guys can't hope to defeat Gaara." Kankuro said smugly.

"Fuck this." I heard Diane hiss. "Can't we just get the hell out of here while they're tearing each other apart? I mean, seriously, what are we waiting around for?"

I glanced over my shoulder to see her conversing with Natasha, an agitated look on her face.

"Alright, how about this: You take Riley and haul ass outta here."

Riley frowned at her. "What about you and the witch over there?"

I grinned up at her as she shot me a disapproving look.

"We'll be right behind you." Natasha replied. "Just go, _now_."

"What? _No_! We're not going without you!" Diane said, clutching her friends' arm.

"It's _fine_, Diane."

"No!" Riley said. "It's not. We're not splitting up with you guys. It's a bad idea."

She rolled her eyes. "Look. We've not got time to argue. Just-"

"Sand Coffin!" a voice suddenly cried out, cutting off Natasha, who whirled round, surprised. Gaara was stretching out his hand, palm out towards the Rain ninja who was charging towards him. The older boy's foot came down to slam into the ground just before the earth seemed to swallow him up. In a matter of a few seconds his whole body was encased in sand. The only part of him that was still visible was his face which was twisted in fear.

One by one the umbrellas fell from the sky.

"W-What is this? Let me go!" he cried struggling in vain against the sand. Gaara took a step forward and placed a hand on one of the fallen umbrellas never taking his eyes off the Rain ninja's face.

"All I have to do is cover your big mouth and you'll be dead." He said menacingly, "But that would be too easy and too boring."

His grip on the umbrella tightened and in one swift movement he yanked it out of the ground and unlocked it holding it up over his head. The Sand ninja raised his free hand slowly lifting Shibure high into the air. I froze. I knew what was coming now.

I turned to Natasha and Riley who had the same expressions of fear I did. Diane stared upward, looking bewildered.

"What the _hell's _going on?" she asked.

Natasha turned to her friend, desperation in her eyes.

"Diane. _Run._"

"What? Why? What's going on-"

"You don't wanna know! Riley, take her and go! We'll be right behind you."

"Uh, I-I think we should probably go..." Riley said nervously, taking Diane's hand and trying to pull her away.

"But-"

"Sand Burial!" Gaara suddenly roared. I whirled round in time to see him clench his fist. There was about a second of utter stillness then a sudden scream of pure terror from the Rain ninja before the sand destroyed him. Blood rained down from the skies and I was glad I was out of range, unlike the other members of the Rain team who stood in horror as their team member's blood poured down on them. Diane let out a shriek of terror, clamping a hand over mouth like she was about to throw up.

"Riley! Take her and go!" Natasha said. Riley nodded and spun around, disappearing into the undergrowth, dragging a hysterical Diane behind her.

"There wasn't any pain. I used much more pressure than was necessary so it was over quickly. The corpse's bitter crimson tears mingle with the endless sand, feeding the chaos within me and making me stronger." Gaara said, his icy voice sending shivers up my spine. One of the remaining Rain ninjas, the taller of the two, reached into his pocket, his hand trembling. He drew out a scroll and took a few shaky steps forward, placing it on the ground as a kind of peace offering, before backing away again.

"Just t-take the scroll. G-Go on here."

"Yes please spare us!" the other cried in a high pitched voice.

I averted my gaze to the scroll, my eyes widening as I recognised the Earth symbol written on it. It was the one we needed!

I risked a glance at those surrounding me, wondering if I would be able to snatch it. It might not have been the cleverest idea, but I knew I had to risk it if I wanted to pass this part of the exam. I took a hesitant step forward, preparing to run for it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one planning on taking the scroll.  
And Natasha was much faster than me.

"Fuck the police!" she screamed as she charged into the clearing faster than my eyes could see. She snatched up the scroll and raced towards the other side of the clearing, pausing momentarily at the row of bushes lining the edge of the clearing before twirled round to face me.

"Bitch! Get the fuck out!" she yelled at me. I knew that was my cue to run, but my legs felt frozen in place.

From the corner of my eye I saw Gaara suddenly move, raising his arm, his palm pointing towards her, his face set in a furious scowl. The sand at Natasha's feet suddenly sprung to life, attacking her legs and lashing round one of her ankles. She shrieked in fright, kicking away the coil of sand before it could get a proper hold on her. She turned and ran like the wind. One second she was there, the next her figure sort of blurred and she moved so fast it was almost like she disappeared completely. She had crossed the clearing in under a second and vanished into the trees.

I was the only one left now.

"Hey!" Kankuro said, outraged. "That girl took our scroll!"

"Shut up, Kankuro." Gaara snarled his icy gaze settling on me once more.

Kankuro blinked, startled. "But...I-I mean, she-"

"That doesn't matter." He said, still staring me down. "We can get one from her." He took a menacing step towards me.

I moved back, desperately trying to think of something to get out of this situation.

"Uh...y'know I think I probably have the same scroll as you. What was it? A Heaven scroll? I have a Heaven scroll. D-Did I mention that?"

Temari sighed, sounding almost relieved. "If she has the same scroll as us, then there's really no point in fighting her. Plus, s-she's on her own. It's not exactly fair..."

"I don't care." Gaara said. "She dared to mock me. I'll _kill her_ for that."

He took another step towards me.

"Ok, look." I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. "You don't...you don't wanna fight _me_."

Gaara stopped, smirking slightly. "And why is that?"

"I, uh...Did I mention I'm a witch?"

Kankuro frowned. "A what?"

"Yeah. I'm a witch. Seriously, you don't wanna fuck with me!" I said, trying to sound as threatening as possible. And probably failing miserably in the process...

"What sort of powers?" Gaara asked, with the slightest hint of suspicion.

"Uhh..." My voice faltered, as I tried to think of something to say. I saw a twig lying at my feet. In one swift movement I scooped it off the ground and pointed it directly at Gaara.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" I yelled.

A jet of green light shot from the end of the stick and hit him square in the chest. He was flung backwards and landed hard on the ground, unmoving.

Hah!

Just kidding.

Nothing actually happened...

The three Sand ninja stared at me, shocked into momentary silence. Gaara's face darkened into a scowl, and he took another step towards me, the sand moving with him.

"You dare try to make a fool out of me?" he snarled.

"Ah, fuck it." I muttered, throwing the stick to the side. "Was worth a try."

The sand came at me in a sudden rush and I turned and bolted, heading for the cover of the trees.

I never made it the end of the clearing.

A tendril of sand wrapped around my ankle, hauling me back. I stumbled and fell, landing hard on my front.

"Gaara! Don't!" Temari cried.

I winced in pain as it tightened around my legs. I screwed my eyes shut, but before I could scream there was that sudden shift again. I kicked my legs as they were suddenly released from the coils of sand and I clambered dizzily to my feet, taking in my surroundings.

I was standing at the edge of a much smaller clearing; the trees formed a leafy roof over my head, blotting out the sun. The only light came from a small break in the leaves, directly above my head.

I let out a sigh of relief, not even aware I had been holding my breath. There didn't seem to be anyone else nearby; no murderous Sand ninja to speak of. The only thing surrounding me now was silence, which was abruptly broken by a dull snap as a twig broke underfoot. I froze, my head snapping round in the direction the noise had come from.

I just about leapt out of my skin when, out of nowhere, three familiar figures suddenly staggered out of the darkness, startling me. Riley, Natasha and Diane were pretty breathless and, though Diane still seemed pretty shaken about what she had witnessed beforehand, overall my friends seemed relatively unharmed, and for that at least, I was grateful.

"Fucking hell!" Riley gasped, straightening up. "I don't think I've run so fast in my entire fucking life."

Natasha frowned. "It's kinda weird...I don't feel that tired at all..."

Diane swallowed, her face pale. "H-He...he _crushed_ that guy."

Natasha turned to her friend, sighing. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"He _killed_ someone. How _fucked up _do you have to be to _kill someone _when you're twelve! What the fuck is wrong with that kid?" she cried.

"Daddy issues, mainly." Riley answered, nodding her head solemnly.

I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it.

Natasha shot me a look, and I quickly stifled my laughter.

"Anyway, all things considered, I think I can safely say-" She suddenly shrieked in the middle of her sentence, leaping about a foot in the air.

"What the _hell's _wrong with you?" Riley demanded. "Quit fooling around!"

"I'm _not! _Something _grabbed_ me!" Natasha snapped.

"You _loved _it!" Melissa's voice spoke suddenly. I jumped, startled. She sounded like she was right next to me, but I couldn't see her.

"Mel?" Riley asked, frowning in confusion. "Where are you?"

She only got about halfway through her question before Melissa suddenly materialized right beside her, Carmen hovering by her elbow.

"Holy shit! How'd you do that?" Natasha asked, awed.

Melissa ignored her question, turning to me, a scowl on her face.

"Thanks for abandoning us by the way, Julia." She sneered. "_Reeeally _appreciate it."

I rolled my eyes at her. "I didn't do it on _purpose_." I sighed. "I just kind of...I dunno. One second I was with you and then, the next...It's nothing something I really had much control over."

"Whatever. I guess it's probably a good thing you _did _move. If you hadn't, you might've ended up like that Rain ninja..."

I shuddered at the thought.

"Glad you're ok, though." She added, if a little awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah. Nice to see you're still alive too." I said.

Carmen scowled at me and coughed, deliberately loudly.

"You're also here." I grinned at her.

Her expression only darkened further.

"Well, I guess this is everyone together again now, isn't it?" Melissa asked, glancing around our little group, a sunny smile on her face.

"I guess so..."

"Good." Mel said, her cheery demeanour suddenly vanishing. "Because I think we've got a lot to talk about..."


	9. Powers?

~~Natasha~~

I couldn't put into words the immense relief I felt at seeing all my friends safe. Although, considering we had crossed paths with Gaara when he was at his most bloodthirsty, we were lucky to be alive at all...

Once everyone had eventually calmed down, we agreed that it would be best if we moved on. No doubt, with the racket we'd been making, someone would have heard us. And the last thing any of us wanted was to end up in another fight.

After around ten minutes of walking in near silence, we found a little make-shift shelter. A gargantuan tree that sat at the edge of a large clearing. Its thick roots rose up out of the ground, creating a small underground cavity, just big enough for us all to squeeze in to. It might not have been the most comfortable hiding place; once we'd all clambered in, there wasn't much room for moving around and it was dark and damp and dirty and there were _way _to many bugs for my liking.  
But at least down there I could feel moderately safe...

"Ok," Melissa said, breaking the uneasy silence, her voice hushed. "First order of business." She turned her gaze to Diane, Riley and I, "You had any luck getting a scroll?"

"'Fraid not." Riley replied, disappointed. "We didn't get much chance to either, I guess. Diane wandered off soon after we came in and nearly got herself _killed._"

Diane rolled her eyes. "That wasn't my fault!" she snapped. "I got lost, ok?"

I felt discreetly in my pocket, my fingers brushing against the Earth scroll, I'd snatched from the Sand team. The scroll that had almost cost me my life...

"Getting back to the point." Melissa interrupted. "I guess _none _of us have had much luck." She shot a furious look at Julia, who scowled back at her.

"Shut up, Mel." She said. "Don't talk about that."

Riley's gaze darted between the two girls nervously. "What happened?"

"Oh, well." Melissa started, going into full rant mode. "Julia thought it would be a great idea to go pissing off some ninja we ran into-"

"I said shut _up_, Mel!"

"...And then, when she was about two seconds away from being killed-"

"I will _burn your house down_!" Julia threatened.

"-She took their Heaven scroll and vanished. Just like that." Melissa finished, smiling grimly. "Left us to deal with the mess she left. We're extremely lucky we even got away in the first place..."

"Wait...she got you a scroll?" I asked, incredulous. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Melissa turned on me. "It was a _Heaven_ scroll, Natasha. We already _have _a Heaven scroll."

"Oh..."

"_Exactly._" Melissa said. "You see: _That's_ why I was so angry! Even for something _this_ dangerous; even when our _lives are at risk _she couldn't stop fucking around."  
"Piss off!" Julia snapped.  
"No, I won't! See, that's your problem Julia. You _can't _stop it!"

"Fuck you, Mel!"

"Guys, knock it off!" Riley cried.

"You just can't help yourself. It's in your nature to be a childish bitch!"

"I am going to fucking decimate you!" Julia shrieked, enraged.  
"_Stop it_! Just _stop it_!" Riley screamed, coming between the two bickering girls. They fell silent, as did the rest of the group; stunned at Riley's outburst. She had always been seen as a pacifist. It wasn't often that we saw her lose her cool.

She let out a heavy breath, calming herself before she spoke again. "You _know _I hate it when you fight. I can't _stand it_."

"Sorry..." Julia muttered sulkily.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." Melissa admitted. "I didn't want to upset you, Riley. It's just that Julia wouldn't-"

"_Leave it_, Mel." Riley said, then seeing Julia was about to retort with something, turned on her. "_Both of you _leave it. It's finished now. No more arguing, _please_."

"The thing is; I _could've_ gotten a scroll." Julia grumbled. "If it hadn't been for _you_, Natasha."

"_Me_?" I said dubiously. "What've _i _done?"

"You took the Sand team's Earth scroll before I could."

"She _what_?" Carmen gasped. "You took _Gaara's _scroll?"

"Technically, it wasn't really his." I admitted. "It was the Rain ninja's; y'know, the ones he sorta...killed? I suppose it _would've _been his scroll. If I hadn't interjected and taken it first."

"Wait a second." Melissa said. "That was the scroll they were _meant _to have. In the original anime, that's how they got to the tower so fast, because they took that scroll."

I raised an eyebrow. "Your point being?"

"Well, how are the Sand team going to pass now? If you took the scroll that they were meant to have, they'll have to find another team to fight against. And that'll probably mean Gaara has to kill again, meaning yet _more _innocent lives are lost."

"'Cos that's being overdramatic at all..." Diane muttered.

She continued on, ignoring the blonde's comment. "Or worse still, what if he comes after _us_? He knows it's you who took it, Natasha. What if he tracks us down and _kills_ _us._" Melissa's voice rose in pitch as she got more and more distressed. Silence descended on our little group; broken abruptly by some bird cawing noisily in the distance. I visibly flinched at the sound, as did everyone else.

"I-I don't think he _will _come after us..." Riley said, her voice soft. "...I-I mean...I hope he doesn't..." She peered through a space in the tree roots to the clearing beyond. "There's no one out there and we all know we weren't followed."

We all muttered our half-hearted agreement.

"Getting back to the point..." Julia continued awkwardly, after another uncomfortable silence, "I _could've _gotten a scroll, if _she _hadn't taken it." She scowled at me.

I snorted. "You mad, bro?"

"Yes, I am, actually.We needed that scroll more than you did." Julia snapped.

"How do you know we didn't need it too?"

Instead of answering me, she turned to Diane and Riley.

"What scroll do you have?" she demanded.

The two shared a nervous look and Riley reached into her pocket and sheepishly pulled out an Earth scroll. I stared at it, wide-eyed.

"Oh..._fuck_." I said.

"Well...that's just fucking perfect." Diane remarked. "The whole idea of this stupid test was to get the two different scrolls, and what do we do? Exactly the opposite."

"'Cause we're not a _part _of their _system_!" Julia said.

I laughed awkwardly, tugging out my own Earth scroll. "So...you guys wanna swap?"

"Nope." Julia replied primly. "Get your own scroll, you lazy bitch!"

Carmen rolled her eyes and reached over, snatching it out of her hand and tossing it to me. I caught it with ease and passed over my own scroll.

"Who's going to carry them all?" I asked.

"We should give one to each person, so they're spread out. That way, if we get ambushed or something and we have to give up one scroll, at least we won't have lost _all _of them." Melissa advised.

"Then who're we gonna pick to take them?" I persisted.

She bit her lip in thought. "That depends..." she said quietly.

"On what?"

She paused, choosing her words carefully. "I dunno how to say this...but I'm pretty sure you've all noticed something...well, _strange _going on. With all of us."

"What're you talking about?" Julia said. A little too quickly.

Melissa shot her an irritated look. "_You_ of all people should know, Julia." She snapped. Julia just stared back at her blankly. At her lack of response, Melissa sighed heavily, pressing her fingers against her temple.

"Ok...obviously, she's not gonna get the ball rolling, so I will." She swallowed nervously before continuing. "So...around ten minutes after we first came into the forest, Carmen, thought it would be a good idea to wander off without us-"

"I heard voices." Carmen interrupted sharply. "I thought it might be the others."

Melissa waved off her outburst, indifferent. "As I was _saying_; she wandered off and we followed after her to find she'd gotten herself in some...trouble with some other ninjas. Then Julia, being the intelligent girl she is," –her words dripped with sarcasm- "decided it would be a good idea to try and provoke them."

Julia glowered at her friend, folding her arms. "Are you gonna insult me or are you actually gonna get to the fucking point?"

Melissa ignored her, continuing on. "So, long story short. We _did _manage to get away. Although we didn't get very far. One of their team members saw as and alerted the others and before long they were chasing us again. Then Carmen fell and sprained her ankle and well..." she hesitated. "That's where things get a little strange."

"In what way?" Diane asked cautiously.

"The ninjas caught up to us. They were standing, feet from us. They were _staring right at us_. But they couldn't see us."

"Um...what?" Julia said, raising an eyebrow sceptically.

"It's true!" Carmen cried. "They just..._stood there_. And they kept asking where we were. I mean, it's weird right? Why couldn't they see us, even when we were right in front of them?"

"Maybe because they're fucking idiots?" Julia suggested.

Melissa scowled at her. "It might help a little, Julia, if you weren't always trying to take the piss."

"I'm sorry, Mel. You have to kinda understand how the sounds to me. To all of us. Of course we're gonna find the whole thing a little ridiculous if we haven't witnessed it ourselves."

"Alright, _fine_." Melissa snapped. "You want proof? I'll show you!"

She clenched her fists, screwing her eyes shut. We watched her with bated breath, waiting for something extraordinary to happen.

It never did.

Julia spluttered abruptly; breaking the silence when she burst out laughing. Melissa glanced up at her, scowling.

"Would you _shut up_?" she cried. "It's harder than it looks, alright?"

"What's hard about it?" Julia sniggered. "All you did was sit looking constipated for about five seconds."

"It's just...I'm not in the same...state of mind as before. If I could get that same feeling then I could-"

Melissa trailed off, her eyes suddenly shining with unshed tears. She seemed about to say something else but before she could, she vanished abruptly. Carmen, who had been sitting next to her disappeared too. Though not for very long. The second after the girls were gone, there was a moment of utter quiet, broken by a shriek from Carmen, which startled the rest of us. She reappeared, stumbling back, staring wide-eyed at the space where Melissa had been sitting a moment before. Melissa herself suddenly rematerialized, her face considerably paled, her hands trembling.

"That was so cool!" Riley said joyfully. "How did you guys _do that_?"

"I-I didn't do anything, though..." Carmen stammered, sounding almost panicked. "I couldn't...I-It was Mel! I-I didn't have any control over it!"

Melissa stared down at her own quivering hands in amazement. "It's weird...it's almost like...I felt..._cold_ all of a sudden. It's just...it's hard to describe..." her voice was so quiet, she seemed to be talking more to herself than to anyone else.

"Wait a second..." Carmen said. "Our knees were touching just now...a-and before you were holding on to my hand-"

"You mean, like, she somehow passed it on to you?" Diane asked, frowning. "Just from touching her? How the hell does that work?"

"Do it again!" I ordered, stretching out my hand. "When you do it, try touching my hand. See if it happens again."

Melissa sighed and nodded reluctantly. Her eyes glazed over as an expression of intense concentration spread over her face. It only took a few seconds before she vanished again. This time I was expecting it. I wasn't expecting the sudden icy feeling when she reached out and touched me. For the mere second our fingers were connected, an uncomfortable chill settled around me; making the hairs on my arms stand up. I gasped, wrenching my hand back and the feeling instantly disintegrated.

A moment later, Melissa reappeared too, looking kind of shamefaced. I stared back at her for a second, before turning to Diane.

"D-Did I just-"

"You did." Carmen interjected, answering my question before Diane could.

"Oh God..."

"Ok..." Julia said slowly. "So, we've established that Melissa has some sort of freakish power that makes her turn invisible-"

"Couldn't use a better word than 'freakish'?" Melissa muttered reproachfully.

"Wait. If Melissa can turn invisible, does that mean the rest of have some sort of weird power too?"

"That'd be so awesome!" Riley exclaimed excitedly.

"I guess it'd explain all this crazy stuff that keeps happening..." Carmen added.

"Yeah..." I said, shooting a suspicious sidelong glance at Julia. She saw me looking and scowled.

"What're _you _looking at whore?"

"Don't call me a whore!" I retorted. "And anyway, I think _you've _got some explaining to do yourself. You remember before? When we were in the middle of that fight with the Sand team? You jumped up at the other side of the clearing and then a second later you just..._appeared_ on our side; not five feet from us."

Julia raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"_So_ how'd you do it?"

She rolled her eyes, exasperated. "I already _told you_ guys. I'm a _witch_!"

"Get the fuck out." I retorted.

"You're just jealous 'cos you're not special!"

"Seriously though. How did you that?"

Julia shrugged. "I dunno. It's not something I _planned_...It just sort of _happened_..." She hesitated, before continuing. "It's almost like...a reflex."

"What're you talking about?"

"Lemme explain. You know how when someone tries to poke you in the eye and you blink automatically. I think...this is the same sort of thing. Like, whenever something happens to me, like when I got attacked I involuntarily ended up somewhere else. Remember...ugh, what's-his-face..."

"Hitoshi." Melissa supplied.

"_Hitoshi_, that's it! He's that guy I took the scroll from?"

"You disappeared a second before he stabbed you. Right in the brain." Carmen said.

"Yeah..." Julia muttered sullenly, "Thanks for announcing that to everyone..."

"And let's not forget what you said to Gaara." Melissa added scathingly. "You sure do have a good knack for pissing people off..."

"Then again, maybe that's a good thing. Now that you've got this...'power' or whatever it is, you can piss of whoever you want, and then when they try to kill you, you'll just automatically fuck off." I said brightly.

"If you think about, that's actually a kind of a crappy power..." Riley mused. "I mean, think about it: if what you said is true, then it's only going to work if you get in shit. The rest of the time you can't really do anything with it, unless your life's in danger."

"Unless you find some kinda way of being able to control it." I said.

"How the hell am I gonna do that?" Julia demanded.

"I dunno..." I admitted. "But there must be _some way_, right? I mean, Mel did it. She could turn invisible when I asked her to, and sure, it took her a minute, but she managed to do it. Think how useful that'll be if we somehow get into trouble and she can just make us all disappear."

"Like some sort of shitty magic trick?" Diane snorted.

"Something like that." I said. "Though, I suppose it _is _kinda useful. It's probably gonna make things a lot easier if we get ambushed again and-"

"where's Julia?" Riley said, cutting me off.

"What d'you mean? She's right..." Carmen trailed off, her eyes widening in alarm as they rested on the empty space beside Diane, where Julia had been sitting a second before.

"Well, that's fucking brilliant..." Melissa scoffed.

"Has _she _disappeared now?" Carmen asked, bewildered. She outstretched her hand cautiously, clawing at the air.

"Would you stop that?" Diane said, irritably. "She's not there!"

The red head scowled at her, sticking out her tongue, but before she could retaliate, Julia picked that exact moment to sudden re-materialize, successfully scaring the absolute shit out of everyone.

"Guess who's back mother fuckers!" she yelled.

"What the _hell_?" I shrieked. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Guys, _shut up_!" Melissa hissed. "You're going to give away our hiding place!"

The rest of the group managed to someone calm down and quieten, apart from Julia, who was still in a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

"It wasn't _that _funny." Riley grumbled.

"Not...that...I'm laughing at!" Julia gasped, struggling to speak through her laughter.

"What then?"

"Gaara's..._face!" _

There was a stunned silence as everyone digested this.

"Julia..." Melissa said slowly. "What did you do?"

She grinned mischievously. "Oh, nothing..."

"Julia, I swear to _God! _If you've done something that-"

"Would you relax?" Julia sighed, cutting her off.

"No! Don't tell me to 'relax'!" She snapped. "For all I know you've probably done something else ridiculously stupid that's gonna get us all killed and-"

"I didn't do anything stupid!" Julia replied. "I was just...I guess I was just trying to see if there was a better way to use my...power, or whatever it is. Like Riley said, it's not gonna be much use if I can only use it whenever I get into shit..."

"Which is pretty much all the time." Melissa scoffed.

She scowled at her before continuing. "Anyway...I think I've found some other way to use it that kinda involves people's faces. It's sort of like...If I concentrate hard enough and picture their face, I can end up standing right next to them."

"So wait," I said. "Lemme see if I get this. You picture a face-I take it has to be someone you know or have seen before, as opposed to someone who's a complete stranger?"

"Uh...I guess?"

"Well, then what? You just randomly..._appear _beside the person you pictured? Just like that?"

Julia nodded, grinning.

"Oh, shit." Melissa hissed. "Julia, you _didn't_."

The other girl spluttered, before bursting into another fit of laughter.

"You did it to, Gaara, didn't you?" She was laughing too hard to answer. Melissa sighed, frustrated. "Well that's just fucking fantastic, isn't it?" she said grimly, scowling at the dark haired girl. "I bet you won't be laughing when he suddenly turns up and murders us all."

Julia managed to stifle her laughter enough to reply. "He's not gonna turn up." She snorted, shooting a withering look at Melissa. "He hardly had time to even react. None of them did. I was there for about half a second and then I was back here."

"Bullshit! You were gone longer than a few seconds, Julia."

"Ok, so maybe had time to...I dunno, say a couple of things..."  
"What's that supposed to me?" Melissa demanded

Julia hesitated before replying. "I..._might _have called him a bitch..."

"Are you _fucking serious_? What the _hell _were you _thinking _Julia? Have you got _any _idea what you've done? You've just killed us all!" Melissa cried.

"Don't be so fucking dramatic!" She snapped. "He doesn't even know where we are. I hardly did anything!"

"Guys, _please_." Riley begged. "Don't start fighting again. Let's just forget about it, okay?"

The two girls shot each other dirty looks; but kept silent.

"So, what then? Is that their powers decided?" Carmen asked, trying unsuccessfully to rid us of the uncomfortable atmosphere. "Melissa can turn invisible and Julia can, what, teleport? What about the rest of us?"

"What about _you_?" I tried, watching her closely. "Anything weird going on with you?"

The red-haired girl shrugged. "I don't think so...I mean, there was that time...earlier on; I-I thought I heard voices. They sounded just like those ninjas we ran into before."

Julia snorted, choking back on a laugh and Carmen turned on her, scowling fiercely.

"Shut _up_! I am _not _schizophrenic!" she snapped.

Julia stared at her, momentarily stunned. "I'm sorry, _what_?" she asked.

"Don't act dumb! I _heard _what you said!"

"Um...nobody said anything, Carmen." I spoke up reluctantly.

"Fuck _off_! I know what I heard! She said I was schizophrenic. And _you_-" she pointed an accusatory finger at Melissa, who flinched. "You were saying I was just making it all up! That I'm just looking for attention!" she threw her hands up in the air dramatically. "Some _great _friends you lot are."

Melissa hesitated, dropping her gaze to the dirty covered ground; looking almost guilty. Julia on the other hand was scowling as she turned to the rest of us.

"Did _you _hear me say anything?" she demanded. "Did you?"

Diane and Riley shook their heads vigorously.

"You're all against me." Carmen declared angrily. "Admit it! You're all just trying to gang up on me!"

"Be _quiet,_ Carmen." Melissa sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Alright...I'll admit it. Maybe I _did_ think you were...y'know, making it up." Ignoring the scowl directed at her by the red haired girl , she continued on. "But I never...I mean, you all heard. I would _never _say it out loud."

"You'd just think it." Carmen finished. "So it's fine for you all to _think _horrible things about me; but as long as you don't actually speak it out loud then it's all good, right?"

"What _I_ don't get." Diane said, speaking up before another argument could arise. "Is why she could hear you saying anything in the first place. It doesn't make any sense! I mean, no one else heard anything, right?"

"I think I might know what's going on here..." Julia said, unsurely. She laughed, a little nervously , adding: "I mean, it's actually kinda obvious."

"What're you talking about?"

"Think it over for a second. Melissa admitted she thought Carmen was being her normal attention-seeking self-"

"_Fuck _you, Julia. Seriously." Carmen snapped.

She ignored her, continuing as if she hadn't spoken. "We all know she didn't actually say anything. But Carmen still heard something."

There was a pause as Julia's gaze drifted over the group. "Anyone see where I'm going with this? Anyone at all?"

She sighed, exasperated at our blank looks. "You fucking _assholes_!"

"Stop yelling!" I hissed. "Someone might hear you."

"But it's _obvious!_" Julia cried. "She read Melissa's mind. She's a telepath."

"What did you call me?" Carmen screeched, enraged.

"Are you seriously _that_ retarded?"

Diane sighed heavily. "It's not an insult, Carmen...for God's sake..."

"Well what is it then."

"I just _told _you." Julia snapped. "You read minds."

"Oh...wait, that's really cool!" Carmen grinned cheerily. "So, can I...read anyone's mind I want? Like, whenever I want?"

"Try reading my mind!" Riley said. "Right now!"

"Um...I guess I could try. The only thing is I'm not entirely sure _how _to."

"Well how did you do it last time?"

"What do you mean 'last time'?"

Melissa held her head in her hands, clearly irritated. "The last time you read someone's mind. When we were in the forest? You said you heard voices; that must've been you reading the minds of those ninja we ran into-"

"Yeah..."

"Well, d'you remember how you did it then?"

"No...of course not! That was like, ages ago!"

"It was a couple of hours at most..." I said scathingly.

"_Still_! It was a while ago! And I dunno...I wasn't paying that much attention to it at the time when it happened. I thought...I mean, it just sounded like someone was talking nearby. I didn't know I was actually listening to someone's thoughts!"

"You must've had _some _idea though?" Melissa persisted. "I mean, didn't you think it was weird that you heard something we didn't?"

She just shrugged again. "Like I said; it sounded pretty much like someone talking normally only...I dunno...sort of fainter? It's kinda hard to explain it. But still...I don't think I really did anything. It just kinda happened..."

"So...you're _not _gonna read my mind then?" Riley asked, clearly more than a little disappointed.

Carmen shrugged helplessly. "I don't think I can...I mean, I'd like to, I just dunno how-"

She cut of, suddenly freezing in place; her eyes widening with alarm.

"Carmen?" Diane asked, worried. "What is it?"

"What's wrong with you?" Melissa cried.

"Sh!" I heard something." Carmen hissed. Silence fell, as we sat watching her intently, waiting for her to speak again. She waited a for a few seconds, frowning slightly, before she spoke again.

"You didn't talk just then, did you, Riley?" she asked cautiously.

"Uh...n-no. Well, I did. When I asked you before if you were gonna-"

"No, I don't mean that. I mean...did you, at any point, say something about wanting something to eat?"

Riley didn't answer right away; she just stared, wordless.

"N-No...I mean, I was...I-I _am _hungry. But I haven't said anything. I really didn't want to 'cause I didn't want to y'know...worry everyone."

Now that she'd mentioned it, I flinched at the sudden cramp in my own stomach; realizing how hungry I was myself. How long had it been since _i'd _last eaten? Five or six hours, at least. A long time. Which was going to make things a lot more difficult if we were to end up getting ambushed again. How were we going to be able to defend ourselves if we were attacked? We were weak enough against these people as it was; we were going to be even more useless on empty stomachs.

"You definitely didn't say anything out loud though, did you?" Carmen asked nervously.

Riley shook her head. "Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"_Positive_, Carmen. I never said anything."

"Well, I definitely heard _something_. And it sounded like you were saying you were hungry."

Riley just stared at her, momentarily speechless. "I think you just read my mind..." she said, stunned.

"Really? _Sweet_! Maybe I'm getting the hang of this after all." Carmen squealed, clapping her hands together in delight. Her gaze roamed over the rest of the group, coming to rest on me. "Maybe I should try reading someone else's mind."

"No." I said savagely. "Stay the fuck away from me."

She flinched, obviously hurt. "The hell? What's your problem, Natasha?"

"I don't want you in my head!" I snapped.

"Why?" Carmen asked, smirking suddenly. "Is it because you've got something to hide?"

"No, Carmen." I replied. "It's because I have standards. I don't want you in my head, because what I think about is, quite frankly, none of your fucking business. I think that if you were any kind of a friend you would respect my privacy."

Carmen pouted, sticking her tongue out at me. "Screw you! You're no fun!"

"Uh...to be honest, I'd rather you didn't read my mind either." Melissa added. "In fact, maybe it's best if you just don't use your telepathy at all. Unless it's an emergency."

"But that's no fun!" Carmen complained. "The others can use theirs whenever they want! Why can't I?"

"We're not saying you can't use it at all." Julia said, exasperated. "Just that you can't use it on us."

"But then how am I gonna get better at using this 'power' if I can't practise it?" she argued back.

"Carmen, you're not _practising _on us. Fuck off."

The red-haired girl scowled, her mouth turned down in a scowl. "You guys never let me do anything _I _want. It's always the same. I'm always the one that gets picked on! It's so unfair! I don't get why you guys always have to-"

At that point I promptly tuned her out, as I'd grown used to doing whenever she went off on one of her rants. I could tell by the blank looks on everyone else's faces that they had done the same.

"So, anyway; who's next?" Julia prompted, successfully cutting Carmen off. "We already know about me, Riley and Melissa." She turned to me. "What about you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What _about _me?"

"You _know _what." Melissa rolled her eyes. "Anything weird been going on with you?"

I shrugged, casually. "Don't think so."

"_Lies_!" Julia yelled, pointing an accusatory finger right in my face. "I saw what you did before! I'm calling bullshit!"

I pushed her hand away from me. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about when you turned ran off and abandoned me like a little bitch. You crossed the clearing, which was about thirty feet across, in less than a second. Seriously, how the fuck did you manage that?"

"I...I don't know! I just turned and ran. I wasn't paying attention to how fast I was going or anything stupid like that. I was a _little _preoccupied by the fact that Gaara was trying to fucking _kill me_."

"You _did _take his scroll..." Carmen pointed out sardonically.

"Don't even fucking start!" I snapped at her. "Yeah, I know; maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do. All of people, taking _Gaara's _scroll. He's psychotic at the best of times...never mind when he gets pissed off; I just thought-"

"Getting back to the point." Julia interrupted, cutting me off. "_You _need to explain yourself."

"I don't know how to, alright?" I yelled.

"Shh!" Melissa hissed desperately. "Not so loud!"

The sudden glint of fear in her eyes instantly had everyone on full alert.

"What is it?" Diane hissed.

Melissa swallowed nervously, before speaking. "I think I heard something."

Carmen frowned. "Or someone..."

We all fell silent, ears straining to hear something. At first there was nothing, from less than ten or so away from our hiding place. I leaned to the side, trying to see past Riley who was blocking my view of the clearing. I turned cold at the sight of a figure standing less than ten feet away from our hiding place.

She looked like she was maybe a year or two older than us; her inky black hair was cut short, to her chin and her piercing green eyes seemed to glow in the surrounding gloom. Her head turned suddenly in my and a hand grasped my shoulder, wrenching me back. I glanced up to see that it was Melissa that was hanging on to me; her fingers digging painfully into my skin. I wanted to tell her to let go but I was afraid to speak; afraid I would give away where we were.

There was a rustling of leaves and the snap of a fallen tree branch underfoot. Trying not to move too much, I craned my neck to try and get a glimpse of the clearing; surprised to see that two more people had appeared.  
Things just keep getting better and better...

"You find them?" the girl demanded, her green eyes narrowing with contempt when they rested on the new arrivals; two boys who had the same dark hair and intense eyes as the girl so I guessed they must be related. One of the boys was a lot shorter than the other too; perhaps he was a younger brother.  
The taller of the two spoke up. "I haven't seen them. But they're close."

"Well, you'd better fucking find them." The girl snarled. "It's _your _fault we lost them in the first place."

"Knock it off, Sadako!" the boy visibly bristled, "It's as much your fault as it is mine. But of course you couldn't ever admit to that, because as far as you're concerned, you can't do wrong."

"Fuck you!" Sadako snarled, shoving his shoulder causing to stumble back a few paces. The pair seemed mere seconds away from destroying each other when the younger boy took a reluctantly step forward, speaking up for the first time.

"Stop it!" he cried; the sudden noise causing the others in their tracks. He faltered under their furious gazes as they turned around to face him.

P-Please don't fight." He stammered, practically tripping over his own words. "I don't like it when you guys fight..."

The girl strode towards the small boy, her green eyes bright with rage as she reached out and, without warning, slapped him across the face. My breath caught as he staggered from the force of the blow, only just managing to keep himself on his feet. I didn't know this kid; had never even seen him before in my life, and yet I was close to tears for him. He couldn't have been more than twelve years old.  
And this girl was laying into him for seemingly no reason.

"I thought I told you before, Takeo." She hissed venomously. "I didn't want to hear you speak another fucking word. Maybe we would've gotten our scroll back if you weren't so fucking _useless_."

Takeo visibly flinched at her poisonous words. His eyes brimmed with unshed tears, but he seemed determined not to cry in front of his sister.

"Pathetic." She spat at him, before she turned her back to him, surveying the rest of the clearing, her fists clenched. There was a moment of silence, the insistent cawing of some bird in the distance the only noise.

The older boy faced the girl, choosing to completely ignore his younger brother.

"Doesn't seem like there's anyone here, Sadako." He sighed, "Maybe we should try looking somewhere else-"

"Someone _is _here." She snapped, cutting him off. "I heard voices."

He raised an eyebrow scornfully. "Are you sure?"

"Don't try to fucking mock me." She snarled. "I know what I heard."

I felt Melissa's hand clutching at my own, and squeezed her fingers in return, knowing what she was trying to say without her needing to speak. If they discovered us now, we were all dead.

No one dared move.

No one dared even breath.

My skin prickled as I felt someone's eyes fall on me. My gaze wandered from the two older siblings to Takeo. I froze as my brown eyes locked with his piercing green ones. I ducked down out of sight, but it was too late.

He had already seen me. I knew then that it was all over. Melissa's hand tightened around mine, crushing the bones together as a vaguely familiar chill settled over my skin. Takeo whirled round, calling out for his brother and sister, the urgency in his voice instantly silencing them.

"Someone _is _here." I heard him say. "Under there."

I couldn't see him, but I could imagine him pointing out our hiding place. I screwed my eyes shut as I heard footsteps approaching us, bracing myself for impact.

There was only silence.

I could feel Melissa trembling beside me and I somehow managed to work up the courage to open my eyes. I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw the girl, Sadako, was kneeling in the dirt, not three feet from me. Her gaze wandered over our pitiful hiding place, but she gave no sign she saw any of us. In fact, as I glanced around me, I realized even _I_ couldn't see my friends. The small hole in the ground we had taken cover in looked just like it did when we first found it.

Empty.

And yet I had seen what the girl hadn't. I knew my friends were still surrounding me. I might not have been able to see them either, but I could still feel Melissa's hand encasing mine and someone's knee (it might've been Riley's) was digging into my back.

Sadako scowled as she backed into the clearing and straightened up. For a few seconds she didn't speak. Then all at once there was a thud and a stifled cry of pain from Takeo, as she lashed out at him again.

"You fucking idiot." She sneered. "_There's no one there_!"

"I saw someone! I swear!" he protested.

"Takeo...just shut up." The other boy said coldly.

I glanced up, peering through the tree roots into the clearing; watching as Sadako turned and stalked towards the line of trees on the opposite side. She paused, momentarily whirling round to face her brothers.

"You should know, Takeo; the only reason I don't just get rid of your worthless ass is because we need three people in order to pass this part of the exam." She took a threatening step forward, "But mark my words: if either Hitoshi or myself go up against you in the fighting rounds, we won't go easy on you just because you're our brother. And if you do have one of us as a sparring partner, you'd best pray it's _him _because I will _destroy_ you. You've been nothing but a disappointment to our family since the day you were born."

With that she turned and stormed off, disappearing into the trees. Hitoshi hesitated before following after her, not even sparing his younger brother a glance. Takeo turned in my direction and our eyes met for the second time. But I didn't have the same moment of panic I had had before. Because now I knew there was nothing he could do. He might've seen us but his siblings hadn't and they weren't going to believe him anyway.

For almost a full thirty seconds he stood staring at me, such a look of utter contempt and loathing in his green eyes that I had to look away first. When I glanced up again he had disappeared.

There was a long, stretched out moment of silence before we all let out a collective sigh of relief. I finally wrenched my hand free from Melissa's, wincing when I saw the bruises her fingers had left. It was a good few minutes before anyone worked up the courage to speak.

"Well...she's a right fucking bitch, isn't she?" Diane remarked of Sadako.

"I know, right?" Riley agreed. "That kid's like ten or something and she all but threatened to kill him. And I thought _my _brother was an asshole..."

"Is everyone ok?" I asked, my voice trembling almost as much as my hands.

For the most part, everyone nodded. Melissa scrambled away from me, heading to the opening of our hiding place.

"I n-need a second...take a breather..." she half-mumbled as she clambered to her feet, disappearing outside.

"That was way to fucking close..." Carmen said, rubbing her hands over her eyes tiredly.

"Uh, yeah...no offence to you guys or anything," Julia said, grinning uneasily, "But if that shit ever happens again, I am so teleporting out of there."

"And...you'll just leave us behind to fend for ourselves?" Carmen asked, disgusted.

Julia grinned unashamedly back at her. "Hell yeah!"

"Fuck you, Julia. Seriously."

"Hey guys?" Melissa's voice drew our attention as she suddenly reappeared, crawling back down beside us. "I didn't really notice until I went outside but...it's actually getting pretty dark out."

I glanced over her shoulder at the clearing beyond, my attention drawn to the rapidly darkening sky. There was still a bit of dull orange light from the setting sun but the sky directly above us was turning a dark blue and I could already see a few stars dotted here and there.

"I was thinking, we should probably turn in for the night. Get a good rest for tomorrow, y'know?" Melissa continued.

"We can't all sleep at once." Julia interjected. "There's a good chance we might get ambushed while we're sleeping. I remember someone talking about it from the series; a lot of groups become more active at night cos they were tryna catch the others off guard. We should sleep in shifts; maybe make two people stay up at the onetime to keep an eye on the others. If they see anything they can wake the rest of us up."

"And then what?" Melissa demanded. "Are we really gonna try and fight and defend ourselves? We don't have any weapons on us."

"We have our powers..." Carmen said lamely.

Melissa snorted. "Fat lot of good that's gonna do us when we don't even know how to use them!"

"Look, we can worry about that later." Riley said dismissively. "What's important now is getting some sleep. We can worry about everything else tomorrow."

"Fine then. Who wants to go on the first shift?" Julia asked.

The resounding silence was enough of an answer. She sighed heavily.

"_Someone's_ gonna have to!" she said.

Melissa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Me and Carmen will do it if it's that big of a deal!"

"What!" Carmen screeched. "Wait a second, I didn't agree to-"

"You don't get a choice." Melissa snapped. "I don't wanna do it either, alright? But someone has to, and at least this way we get our shift done first so we can sleep later."

Carmen seemed like she wanted to argue further but a withering look from Melissa silenced her.

"The rest of you can get some shut eye just now." Melissa continued. "We'll wake you up in about...three hours? Does that seem fair?"

We all nodded in response.

"Fine. Three hours, then we'll decided who does the next shift."

The two of them moved themselves round so they were next to the opening of our hiding spot and had a good view of the quickly darkening forest surrounding us. The rest of us tried with difficulty to get comfortable in the small space provided. There was much shuffling around and whispering and stifled giggles at first as everyone struggled to get to sleep in the adverse circumstances, but one by one everyone dropped off, until I was the last one awake. There forest around me was silent; the only noise I could hear was the hushed voices of Carmen and Melissa sitting nearby as they sat, trying to make the time pass more quickly by chatting to one another.

I was certain I wouldn't be able to fall asleep since I was so uncomfortable, crammed as I was between Diane and the trunk of the tree. I almost screamed when I felt some unknown bug crawl across my hand. But the day had been tiring and taken its toll on me. Before long I felt my eyelids droop and only a few minutes later I had succumbed to the darkness.


	10. The Sound Ninja

**WE INTERRUPT YOUR READING TO BRING YOU THIS IMPORTANT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT****:**

**...-FFFFFFFFUUUUUUU**

**As I'm sure you've no doubt realized I haven't updated this story in almost five months. I'm not even sorry. I've been extremely busy over the past few months with exams and have been finding it a struggle to find the time to update with all the stress I've been under. Thankfully, my last exam was about a week ago, and since the summer holidays are coming up soon I'm hoping that I'll be able to update more frequently. In the meantime, this is probably one of the longest chapters I've done, so hope you'll enjoy :)**

**PS: Yes, I have changed the names of the characters for probably the fifth or sixth billionth time, but I'm sure it shouldn't be too hard to figure out who's who.**

~~Carmen~~

I'm not exactly what you'd call a 'morning person.'

In fact, I can pretty much turn into the world's biggest bitch if someone dares wake me up before noon; even if I'd had a full night's sleep beforehand. Needless to say, I wasn't likely to be feeling all that cheerful the next morning after I was forced to stay awake and keep watch with Melissa for hours on end. And then when I eventually got the chance to go to sleep, I couldn't because Diane and Natasha, who were on the next shift, refused to _shut the fuck up_. I lost count of how many times I was woken up by their continual giggling fits, and no amount of Melissa telling them off would get them to stop.

And now, when I'd _finally _managed to get to sleep, I was woken _yet again_; only this time it was because of Julia and Riley screaming their heads off. I opened one eye lazily, seeing the ground just inches from my face. It felt like I had cotton wool stuffed in my ears, muffling the sounds of my friends' loud voices. I shut my eye again, wondering if I would be able to catch a few more minutes of sleep. But fate wasn't having it. The second I was starting to feel drowsy again, I was jolted back awake; this time by the sound of a third voice; one high pitched and whiney and horribly familiar.

"I know we're supposed to be working against each other, but _please_...couldn't you let us stay here? Just for a few hours? My teammates, t-they're really badly hurt...A-And I can't...I'm afraid I won't be able to protect them b-because I'm all on my own..."

My eyes fluttered open and I sat up too quickly, causing the world to spin violently around me. I glanced up, my eyes trying to adjust to my gloomy surroundings. Natasha and Diane were curled up in the dirt beside me, both still fast asleep and completely oblivious to the noise. The rest of our little group: Julia, Riley and Melissa were standing a few feet away at the entrance to our little underground shelter, arguing animatedly with someone. I leaned slightly to the side to get a better view and spotted a girl who looked to be a few years younger than us. She had a head of bright pink hair and luminous green eyes which were brimming with tears of frustration. I squinted at her, certain I'd seen her somewhere before, but unable to place a name to the face.

"Listen," Riley was saying, seemingly done screaming and deciding to take a calmer approach. "I get that you're upset and everything, but you _can't _stay here. There's no room and besides: we were here first."

"What she means is: why don't you make like a tree and _get the fuck outta here_!" Julia snapped.

The pink-haired girl scowled at her, defiant despite her tears. "You can't _make_ me leave. I-I'll fight you if I have to."

"Yeah, right." Melissa scoffed from the sidelines. "There's six of us, and only one of you. And, let's face it, Sakura. You're not exactly the most...shall we say 'adept' fighter."

I felt a jolt as I suddenly realized who it was we were talking to. She was Sakura Haruno! That annoying bitch from Naruto's team! I glanced behind her and sure enough spotted Naruto and Sasuke unconscious on the ground beside her, vaguely pained expressions on their faces. My gaze flickered back to Sakura to see that her face had suddenly drained completely of all colour. She didn't even seem to comprehend Melissa's insults.

"You...h-how did you know my name?" she whispered, aghast. I froze, keeping my back against the tree trunk behind me, hoping to remain unseen in the gloom. I didn't want to end up involved in this; especially now that Melissa had really put her foot in it. What was she _thinking _saying that? Didn't she know how bad this would make us look?

"Fuckin' perfect." Julia muttered angrily, shooting a filthy look in Melissa's direction. "Bravo Mel. _Real _smart of you."

Melissa ignored her, acting like she hadn't spoken. Sakura eyed the two of them cautiously, silently demanding an answer that neither of them was planning on giving.

"Uh...w-well...I mean, this isn't really that big of a deal." Riley stammered, trying to salvage what she could of the situation. "She only knows your name because umm...she overheard you when umm...when you were uh-"

"_Shut up_!" Sakura snapped, cutting her off. "You expect I'm just gonna believe any lies you make up? How _stupid _do you think I am?"

Julia snorted. "You really want an answer to that?"

"I said _shut up_!" she cried, her expression fierce. She reached into her back pocket, pulling out a kunai knife and held it out in front of her defensively. Obviously trying to play it tough, but she couldn't disguise the fact that the hand holding the knife was shaking violently. "I _knew_ there was something weird about all of you. I _always _knew. The way you dress, the way you act...you're _nothing like _a Shinobi should be. I mean, you don't even have _headbands_!"

There was a panicky look shared amongst my three friends. This didn't go unnoticed by Sakura whose expression of dread had been replaced with an arrogant smirk as she realized she'd hit a nerve. The hand holding the kunai suddenly wasn't shaking as much.

"There _is _something going on here, isn't there? I want answers. _Now_!" she snarled. Beside me, Natasha, who was still curled up sleeping, flinched at the girls' raised voice. Her eyes flickered open and she sat up, looking around blearily.

"The fuck's going on?" she mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of her tired eyes. "Why all the noise?"

"Look who finally decided to wake up." Riley remarked, scowling at the brunette.

"About time too." Melissa added scornfully.

"Fuck you guys; I'm a heavy sleeper." She grinned wearily; but the smile quickly faded when she picked up on the ominous atmosphere. "Something going on?"

Her gaze fell on Sakura, who was still crouched by the entrance to our hideout; her unconscious teammates laid out beside her. Natasha gasped, her brown eyes widening in horror.

"What's _she _doing here?" she demanded.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Melissa said, scowling at the pink haired girl. "She was just leaving." The sentence was accompanied by a fierce look that spoke volumes.

Sakura tore her gaze from Natasha to return Melissa's glare. Her grip tightened on the handle of the knife. "We're not going _anywhere_." She said.

"Fine!" Natasha snapped. "_Fuck it_; _we'll _leave." She leaned over and roughly shook Diane's shoulder, trying to wake her. The blonde groaned and tried to feebly swat her hand away but Natasha wasn't having it. She attempted to pull the girl to her feet, even though she was still half asleep. She tripped over my foot as she went past me, almost falling on her face, still dragging Diane with her.

I pulled my leg out of the way, wincing at the pain in my ankle. "Fucking _watch it_!" I snarled, but she paid no attention to me.

"Wait a second," Julia said indignantly. "We've told this bitch-" She gestured to Sakura. "-_countless _timeto get the fuck out of our hiding spot and now you've just decided to let her have it anyway?"

"Yeah, sure. She can do whatever the fuck she wants. I don't care." Natasha said distractedly. "I just think we should all get outta here before the shit hits the fan."

Melissa frowned. "What the hell're you talking about?"

She paused for a second, eyeing the rest of the group. "Don't tell me you forgot?" She rolled her eyes, exasperatedly. "_Really_? You don't remember the Sound ninja?"

There was a shared look of confusion among the others. I felt the blood drain from my face as the realization dawned on me. The Sound ninja...they were after _Sasuke_. Sasuke, who was lying not five feet from us. They had been ruthless when they found Sakura; she'd been beaten almost to a bloody pulp.

But now things were different. Because _we _were here with her.

So what if they did the same thing to us?

I swallowed, a cold dread settling in my stomach. Sure, there would be more of us than there were them...but still; Sakura wasn't much of a fighter. She was still able to hold her own against them, even if it wasn't for very long. We'd never even had any sort of training as Shinobi.

We wouldn't stand a chance.

Suddenly, Natasha's idea of running didn't seem so stupid.

"What's going on?" Diane mumbled, still half-asleep.

"We're leaving." Her friend replied sharply.

"Yeah...t-that's probably a good idea." Melissa said, glancing around uneasily as she had came to the same realization I had.

"I'm coming too!" I said quickly. I clambered to my feet, intending to follow their lead, but the sound of Julia's sudden rambunctious laughter made me pause.

"You guys are pussies!" she snorted. "_I'm _not going anywhere; I'm not scared of those fuck face Sound ninjas."

"Fine!" Natasha snapped, finally losing her temper. "You stay here if you want. But I can't be held accountable for what happens. You know, _all _of you know what these people are capable of. You've _seen _what happened to _her-" _she pointed her finger at Sakura, who flinched. "What're they gonna do to us, huh? We can't fight _them_."

"She kinda has a point..." Riley admitted.

"What're you talking about?" Sakura finally spoke up. Her arrogance from before was now replaced once again by fear.

"Forget it." Melissa snapped savagely. "It's got nothing to do with you anyway."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Don't give me that! You were clearly just talking about me. About the Sound ninja." Her tone turned accusatory. "You _know _something..."

Melissa heaved an frustrated sigh. "We don't know _anything_, ok? We just...we just wanna get outta here before we get caught up in something we really don't wanna be a part of."

Natasha, who was facing the entrance to the clearing suddenly froze up, then in a voice almost too quiet to hear whispered:

"I think it's too late for that now..."

Sakura's head whipped round in the direction the others were facing, her green eyes widening in horror. The feeling of dread I had increased tenfold. Natasha, Diane and Melissa were blocking my view of the clearing so I scrambled over to Julia on my hands and knees, peering round them to see, even though I already knew what to expect.

Standing at the edge of the clearing, not ten feet from us were three menacing figures. I recognised them only from a faint memory of watching the _Naruto _series at home on my computer. On a screen, they didn't seem like all that much. In person, well...that was a slightly different story. The threesome consisted of a boy with black, gravity defying hair and metal plates on the side of his head, a girl with ankle length hair and malevolent dark eyes and what I assumed was a boy, though I couldn't be sure since his head was almost completely covered in bandages, leaving only one eye uncovered.

"Well, well. Look what we have here." The boy with the spiky hair sneered, eyeing us all with noticeable scorn.

Sakura scrambled to her feet, her knife held out in front of her protectively. "What're you doing here? What do you _want_?" She cried.

The boy with the bandages stepped forward, his one visible eye narrowing. "We're here for Sasuke." He said, his eerie voice sending chills down my spine. "Wake him up; we want to fight him."

"What's going on?" Diane mumbled, her attention caught by the sound of the newcomers voices. She eyed the three Sound Ninja suspiciously. "Who're they?"

The black haired boy's gaze shifted to her, and his sinister smile only grew. "Maybe we can have some fun with these freaks, first." He said. "Before we deal with Sasuke."

Natasha took a step forward, keeping herself between her blonde friend and the boy. "You son of a _bitch_." She snarled. "You lay a finger on _any one _of my friends and I'll kick your nuts up into your throat!"

His expression darkened with sudden rage and he took a menacing step forward. "What the hell did you just say to me?" he bellowed.

"Take it easy, Zaku." The bandaged boy hissed. "Don't forget our purpose. We're here for Sasuke."

His companion snorted. "I know that. But I'm not gonna let some _freak_ talk to _me _like that!"

He glared at Natasha, who scowled back, unfazed. A short, uncomfortable silence followed, which was broken when Julia suddenly clambered to her feet.

"Well," she announced, "This has been real special and all, but...I think I'm just gonna haul ass outta here, before things get really nasty." She grinned cheerily and gave a half-hearted wave. "Bye guys. Was nice knowing you."

Melissa whirled round. "Julia, don't you _dare_ leave-" Her words choked off. She was talking to thin air.

Julia was already gone.

I stared at the spot she used to occupy; still struggling to come to terms with the situation. Had that _really _just happened? Had Julia _really _just abandoned us?

"That _fucking bitch_!" I yelled. "How could she just-"

"Just forget about her." Riley snapped. "We've got bigger problems right now."

I quickly turned my attention back to the three Sound ninjas who were watching us with sudden guardedness. Obviously Julia's disappearing act had put them a little on edge. Sakura, on the other hand, hadn't even noticed the change. She stepped forward, holding her knife out in an attempt to be threatening.

"What do you people want with Sasuke?" she demanded. "I already know that Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows." The Sound ninjas looked shocked at this. "And what's that strange bruise on the back of Sasuke's neck? You're behind all of this, aren't you?" Her voice rose as she became more and more upset. "And now, you want fight him? When he can't even defend himself?"

The black haired boy scowled, his lip pulling back from his teeth in a fierce snarl. "First that stupid girl, and now _you_? I'm sick of you freaks thinking you can talk down to _me_! First I'm gonna kill this girl and all her annoying little friends. And then I'm gonna kill Sasuke."

"You just fucking try it!" Natasha snapped.

He scowled, taking a threatening step forward. "What the hell did you say to me?"

"_Natasha_." Melissa hissed, appalled. "Don't antagonise them..." She turned to face the three Sound ninjas, putting her negotiator face on. "Look, none of us want any trouble, ok? This whole thing you have against Sasuke and her-" she gestured to Sakura. "It's _nothing _to do with us. We're not even _friends _with her."

"So what?" the boy sneered. "It doesn't matter to me if you're her friend or not. I'll kill every single one of you before I let you talk down to me again."

"Zaku's right." The girl said, speaking up for the first time. "We shouldn't let these idiots get away with disrespecting us."

The two paused and I quickly realized they were eyeing the bandaged boy, a little cautiously, as if waiting for him to talk. He seemed to be something of a ringleader in the trio.

The boy with the bandages stared at us all through his own visible eye, his head tilted to the side as if considering something. Then his eye darkened and even though his mouth was covered I could tell he was smirking.

"Alright. We'll take them out; then we'll deal with Sasuke."

The three suddenly moved as one, lunging towards us almost faster than I could see. There was no time for us to run, to get away. We could only stand frozen as death stared us right in the face.

"_Leaf hurricane_!" A new voice suddenly yelled out. There was a blur of bright green and the trio of Sound ninjas were thrown back by some invisible force, landing hard on their backs. I quickly ducked for cover behind Natasha and Melissa, bracing myself for an attack. A few seconds passed, and when nothing happened, I quickly scrambled to my feet, peering tentatively around my friends to see what had happened.

Standing with his back to us, facing the three Sound ninja was one of _the _most ridiculous characters in the whole of the series: Rock. Fucking. Lee.

He was clad in his trademark clingy green body suit and his oil black hair was cut in a hideous bowl cut. White bandages were wrapped around his arms and, for some unknown reason he had a small squirrel perched on his shoulder.

"Oh great..." Melissa muttered irritably. "It's _him_."

"Who the fuck _is _that?" Diane hissed to Natasha, who seemed to stunned to answer her. The Sound ninjas clambered to their feet; their expressions dark with rage. The bandaged boy tilted his head, his one visible eye fixed on Rock Lee.

"Who the hell are you?" he snarled furiously.

"I am the handsome devil of the Leaf Village. And my name is Rock Lee." He declared proudly.

Diane raised an eyebrow sceptically. "'_Handsome devil_?'" she repeated incredulously. "With _that _hair?"

"Diane, _shh!_" Melissa said.

Diane stared in disbelief at the boy, shaking her head in disgust. "You stupid bitch..."

He turned to stare at us, eyes wide with surprise as if he'd only just noticed us. "Oh, hello." He said cheerily. "Are you friends with Sakura?"

Riley laughed. "_Hell _no!"

"My mistake. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, anyway." He grinned merrily.

"Fuck off!" Diane snapped.

"Ignore them, Lee." Sakura said, shooting a dirty look in Diane's direction. "They're not worth paying attention to. I don't even know what they're doing here."

Natasha snorted reproachfully. "_Excuse me_, bitch?" she snarled. "In case you've forgotten, _we _were here first. We've got more right than you do being here."

Sakura clenched her fists and for a worrying second I thought she might actually take a swing at Natasha. But instead she turned her head to face Rock Lee, a sudden puzzled look on her face.

"I meant to ask you Lee...w-what are you doing here?" she said, her voice suddenly soft.

"I will always appear anytime you are in trouble Sakura!" Lee declared proudly, giving the squirrel on his shoulder a quick pat, before picking it up and setting it on the ground, where it quickly scurried away into the undergrowth.

"But right now on this test, I'm your enemy." Sakura protested.

"I already told you Sakura; I will protect you until I die!" Rock Lee exclaimed.

Natasha smirked. "Well, isn't that..._gay_."

"Enough talk." The bandaged boy spoke up, his visible eye narrowed in anger. "I'm done dealing with you jokers." He turned to the black haired boy beside him. "Zaku, you can have Sasuke. I'll take care of the rest of them."

I tensed, bracing myself for the oncoming fight. And our probably inevitable deaths...

I could only watch as the boy with the bandages charged at us, pulling up his baggy sleeve to reveal a strange metal device attached to his arm. Sakura abruptly sprung into action, pulling out a handful of kunai knifes and hurling them out into the clearing at him. She was probably aiming for his head, but seeing as she was completely shit at pretty much everything, the knives ended up embedded in the ground a good few feet away from him. He leapt into the air, his arm extended and aimed at Rock Lee, who suddenly ducked down, plunging his arm into the earth and yanking out a huge tree trunk.

I blinked, completely confused. How the hell did he do that? No offence to the series or anything but...wasn't this all just a little _too _unrealistic? I glanced up to see a similar expression of bewilderment on Diane's face and, considering she had never watched the show before, realized she must be thinking the same thing I was.

"Um...Nat?" she asked. "Quick question: what the _fuck _is going on?"

"To be honest?" her friend replied a little uneasily. "I'm not entirely sure myself..."

I turned my attention back towards the ongoing fight in time to see Lee suddenly vanish in midair. The boy with the bandages skidded to a halt, his visible eye darting back and forth, trying to spot his missing opponent. One second he was standing out there alone in the clearing, the next Rock Lee had inexplicably reappeared underneath him and slammed his foot into his chin, causing him to fly up into the air. My view of the clearing was obscured by the roof of tree roots above my head, but I already had a rough idea of what was going on above my head.

My gaze fell on the black haired boy as he yelled out lunging forward and plunging his hands into the earth. There was a rumble under our feet and a massive pile of dirt burst out of the ground as the bandaged boy fell back down from the sky to earth, landing hard on his head in the pile of mud. There was a muted thud and a cloud of dust was thrown up. It quickly cleared to reveal the boy's lower half sticking up out of the ground in a comical way. I struggled to hold back my laughter as his legs were left kicking around in the air. He managed to pull himself out of the ground, shaking his head in a daze.

Rock Lee reappeared, landing on the ground on the ground a few feet away, a look of complete disbelief on his face.

"What?" he cried. "This cannot be!"

He scrambled up from his crouching position panting heavily with fatigue. The bandaged boy straightened, pulling up his long sleeve to reveal a strange metal device attached to his arm.

"Now it's my turn." He snarled and charged towards Lee, swinging his metal fist at his face. Lee dodged easily but despite the fact the other boy's punch missed him by a good bit, his head still snapped back as if he actually had been hit. He yelled out in pain, collapsing to his knees and throwing up violently on the forest floor.

"Your jutsu is indeed fast," he continued, "But, you see, ours is even faster because it travels at the speed of sound."

"Lee!" Sakura cried, alarmed. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Needles to say, Rock Lee didn't answer. I stared at him, horror-struck, watching as a thin stream of blood trickled out of his ear and down the side of his face.

"I forgot to mention this little gadget I'm wearing." The boy with the bandages said smugly. He pulled back his sleeve revealing the piece of metal attached to his arm, which glinted in the dull light. "You see, I don't need to strike you with my fists. I can hit you with the power of sound. Feeling a little dizzy and nauseous? Best if you don't even try to stand up for a while."

Zaku smirked. "You don't stand a chance against us with that old fashioned Tai jutsu. You can't win when you're up against the jutsu of the future." He boasted. He yanked his hands out of the ground and held up his own hands to display the small holes embedded in the centre of his palms.

"Right on..." Natasha muttered sarcastically.

"I think it's about time we ended this." The other boy said, his visible eye fixed on Lee, who lay trembling on the ground. He took a threatening step towards him.

"That's what you think!" Sakura shrieked, jumping to her feet, pulling a small handful of shuriken out of the pouch attached to her belt and hurling them at the boy. He raised his arm and the shuriken bounced harmlessly off of the metal device on his arm. He turned to face her.

"I'd almost forgotten about you." He sneered.

She seemed undeterred by his threatening tone of voice and reaching into her pouch, launching another few shuriken in his direction.

"_Catch these_!" she screeched. The black haired boy, Zaku, darted forward in front of his teammate and stretched out his hands, sending a blast of air out of his palms and the shuriken, which were sent flying back towards the pink-haired girl. She flung herself to the side, only just managing to dodge them. There was a sudden blur of movement behind her and the girl member of the Sound team appeared and wrenched her back by the hair, causing her to collapse on to her knees.

"My my, what soft and shiny hair." She purred, her face twisting into a disgusted snarl as she dug her fingers into her scalp. "Y'know, maybe if you spent a little less time on your _looks _and a little more time training, you wouldn't be so useless!"

Sakura flinched at her harsh words, tears springing into her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. The black haired girl glanced up, her dark eyes falling on us and she smirked cruelly.

"Hey, Zaku!" she called over her shoulder. "You know what'd be fun? Why don't we try teaching little miss beauty queen here a lesson and let her watch while we finish of Sasuke and her little friends?"

"Yeah, about that..." I piped up. "She's not actually our friend."

"Carmen," Melanie hissed. "_Shut. Up_."

Zaku turned to face us, a malicious grin spreading across his face. "Why not?" he replied, "It sure sounds like fun to me."

He started towards us but he hadn't taken more than a few steps when Natasha, who still had a firm hold of Diane's hand, suddenly panicked, turning and bolting for the line of trees at the opposite end of the clearing, dragging her reluctant blonde friend behind her.

"Nat! _Don't!_" Melissa cried but it was far too late to stop them. Zaku's head whipped in their direction, his eyes narrowed in anger. Natasha might have been a fast runner, but she was a lot slower with Diane in tow and they had barely covered any distance when Zaku caught them up, wrenching Diane back. Natasha stumbled, crying out when her friend's hand was wrenched from hers. She turned around to face him and he delivered a swift, deft punch to her temple. She staggered from the force of the punch, landing hard on her back, her hand flying up to her face. Zaku just laughed callously.

"This is what you get for thinking you can mess with the Sound team." He hissed. One of his hands reached into his pocket and drew out a wicked looking knife.

"_No!_" Melissa shrieked. "_Don't hurt them_!"

Natasha glanced up at the sound of her friends' voice, her eyes widening with alarm as they fell on the knife. I caught sight of what looked like a nasty bruise flowering above her eyebrow just before she suddenly leapt to her feet, swatting at the boy's hand that was clutching the kunai, causing it to fly out of his hand. Zaku stood for a moment, scowling at her, infuriated by her smug grin. In one rapid motion he reached forward and grabbed Natasha by a handful of her hair, driving his fist into her stomach. She cried out in pain and Diane glanced up, her eyes wide with fear.

"_Nat_!" she screamed for her friend. Natasha turned as much as she could whilst Zaku still had a hold of her and I could see her eyes watering slightly.

"Run, Diane!" she yelled back. "_Save yourself!"_

The blonde froze for a second, her gaze darting about as she seemed undecided on whether to get away or stay and help her friend.

"_Run_!" Natasha screamed again, a second before Zaku suddenly released his hold on her hair, threw her down on the ground. She landed hard and I saw Diane's blue eyes widening as he turned towards her. She stumbled back starting to run, but she wasn't fast enough to get away.

"Where d'you think you're going Blondie?" he sneered, grabbing a hold on her shoulder and yanking her back; throwing an arm round her neck. She cried out in a panic, trying unsuccessfully to free herself.

"_Don't fucking touch her_!" Natasha snarled, but there wasn't much she could do since she was still doubled up in pain from the blow to her stomach. Melanie staggered forward, tears in her own eyes.

"_Don't! _P-Please, don't hurt them." She begged desperately. "We...we'll give you our scroll. We'll give you _anything_. Just let us go, _please_."

"I don't think so." He sneered maliciously. "You freaks should've thought twice before you insulted _me_. Now you're not gonna live long enough to regret it."

He reached into his pocket pulling out another knife, his arm still around Diane's throat. I wanted to do something to stop him, but my limbs felt frozen, paralysed by fear. I could only stand and stare.

The razor sharp edge of the blade glinted in the light as he raised it, but before he could knife Diane in the neck with it, there was a blur of motion over his shoulder and Julia suddenly materialised behind him. She lashed out with her open hand, slapping him hard on the side of the head. Zaku's head jerked to the side with the force of the hit and he let out a yell of pain and surprise. His grip on Diane loosened. She saw her chance to escape and promptly took it, driving her elbow into his ribs. He staggered back and Diane scrambled away from him, falling down beside Natasha who hadn't yet moved.

"Are you ok?" she asked, her voice shaky. Natasha didn't look at her, she seemed too focused on Julia.

"Where the _hell _have you been?" she yelled furiously. Julia didn't seem even seem to notice that she had spoken. She was too busy laughing uncontrollably at the look of fury on Zaku's face.

"You _bitch_!" He snarled. "I'll make you pay!"

He whirled round to face her, aiming his open palms at her. He sent a blast of hurricane force wind hurtling towards Julia. The power of the airstream was so great it ripped branches and stripped the bark from the trees. I could only imagine the damage it could do to Julia. But when the black haired boy lowered his arms, stopping the flow of air she was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey!"

Zaku whirled around in the direction of the cry, his eyes narrowing when they came to rest on Julia who was leaning against a tree at the other side of the clearing, a good twenty feet or so away.

"That was pretty cool." she taunted. "Can you do it again?"

His lips pulled back from his teeth in a furious snarl. He swung his arms up, aiming his open palms at Julia who just smirked.

"Zaku, don't!" the Sound girl yelled out, her head turned towards her teammate, though she still had a hold on Sakura who was sobbing almost hysterically.

"She's just baiting you." The boy with the bandages hissed. "You of all people shouldn't be stupid enough to fall for that."

"Yeah, Zaku!" Julia sneered. "You're not _stupid _are you?"

"That's _enough_." The other boy snarled. "If you want to live you'll shut your mouth."

Julia laughed. "Why don't you make _me_?"

His one visible eye narrowed as he took a threatening step forward, raising his metal arm. But before he could even use it Julia had vanished again, only to reappear less than a second later right by Melissa's side. The brunette jumped in fright, her expression darkening in fury after she had gotten over the initial shock.

"What're you playing at?" she hissed. Julia grinned back, unfazed.

"Nice to see you too."

"Shut up! I can't _believe _you! You just disappeared and left us all, not giving a shit about what happened and now you expect us to welcome you back like you never did anything wrong? _Fuck you_!"

"That was pretty low of you, Julia." Riley said disapprovingly.

"Quit whining." Julia snapped. "I'm here now, aren't I?"

"You shouldn't have _left _in the first place!" I said, scowling. She turned on me, livid.

"Don't fucking try to-"

"What the _hell _d'you think you're doing?" An indignant voice from the clearing outside cut Julia off. I turned away from her, trying to locate the speaker. My gaze fell on the girl from the Sound trio, who still had a hold on Sakura. There was a flash of silver, a glint of something in the corner of my eye and I glanced down, my gaze falling on the kunai knife clutched in her hands.

"Oh, _come on_!" the other girl hissed, her tone exasperated. "It's pointless. That's not going to work on me."

"It's not meant for you." She snarled, her green eyes glowing with anger. She raised the knife and in one swift movement sliced off a large chunk of her hair. Having nothing to hold on to, the older girl stumbled back, losing her balance.

Sakura scrambled to her feet, her hair slashed short, now only reaching just past her chin. She whirled round to face Zaku, her fists clenched. The boy staggered back, surprised. He got over it quickly and turned to his teammate in desperation.

"Kin!" He yelled at her. "Finish her!"

Kin regained her composure and tugged out a pair of her own kunai knives, lunging at the pink haired girl and sinking the blades into her ribcage. But in the split second that the knives made contact there was a muffled bang and a puff of smoke. The smoke quickly cleared and in place of Sakura a large chunk of wood with the knives embedded in them.

"What the _hell_?" I exclaimed, completely confused.

Melissa gazed into the clearing, her eyes narrowed in thought. "It must be the Substitution Jutsu."

"The what?"

She shook her head. "You can't be much of a _Naruto _fan if you don't even remember the Substitution Jutsu."

Julia rolled her eyes and muttered something incomprehensible. I ignored her and returned my attention back to the fight. Sakura had reappeared a good few feet away from where she had first been, grasping a handful of knives in each of her hands as she charged towards Zaku.

"Kin! Get out of the way!" he cried, as he stepped back, raising his arms. The black haired girl leapt to the side as Sakura lunged, hurling the knives in his direction. A blast of wind from his hands sent them flying back towards her. The second before the knives hit, there was another bang and cloud of smoke which revealed another log punctured by the kunais. Zaku lowered his arms, a scowl on his face.

"You gonna keep playing this all day?" he sneered. "'Cos I got news for you; I'm not falling for it!"

Sakura reappeared again, this time heading straight for Zaku. He grimaced pulling out his own pair of knives and throwing them forcefully at the girl, but he was too slow. She dodged the attack and before he could do anything, she tackled him to the ground. He yelled out in pain as she sank her knife into his arm, biting down hard on his other hand, like she was some rabid animal.

"Are you _crazy_?" Zaku cried, his eyes wide with shock and rage. "Get off of me!"

He clenched his fist and brought it down again and again on her head, trying to loosen her hold on him. But Sakura wouldn't budge; she just kept her eyes screwed shut, somehow able to endure his punches.

"Somebody get this crazy chick off me!" the boy shouted, looking to his teammates for help. Although help from them wasn't really needed as Sakura seemed to be at the end of rope, as with one final punch she was sent crashing to the ground.

"Now you're gonna pay!" Zaku panted as he clambered to his feet, whirling round to face the pink haired girl who was now too exhausted to move. She could only kneel there, gasping for air while he raised his outstretched his hands.

"Say so long kid!" he sneered.

"We have to do something!" Riley whispered desperately, tugging on Melissa's arm. The brunette bit her lip, seemingly trying to avoid looking at what was going on outside.

"We _can't_." She said, not looking Riley in the eye. "It's too dangerous and we have to stop getting involved in these things."

"But she's going to _die_!"

"No she's not." Julia scoffed. "I'm pretty sure someone jumps in to save her anyway." She frowned, trying to remember the details of the episode. "Her blonde 'friend'...what's-her-face..."

"That doesn't matter!" Riley said. "We could still help somehow; it's better than just sitting here doing absolutely _nothing _while she gets the shit kicked out of her."

She made to stand up, determined to step in and stop the fight but Melissa grabbed her wrist, yanking her back.

"I told you, we _can't _Riley." The other girl opened her mouth to protest but Mel kept on talking, cutting her off. "I know you want to help and your heart's in the right place and everything but you need to _realize _that we won't be doing _her _or ourselves any favours by trying to stop it. She couldn't fight them, there's no way we'll be able to either! As selfish as it sounds we really just need to focus on our _own _group; our _own _problems."

"Speaking of which..." Julia said. "Where're Nat and Diane?"

I glanced out into the clearing, surprised to see a group of three newcomers had suddenly materialised in the area. I couldn't pay them much attention; I was more worried about the disappearance of my friends.

"They must've ran while we busy watching the fight." Melissa muttered.

"Why didn't they just come back to us?" I asked. "We weren't _supposed _to split up!"

"They can't have gone far..." Melissa said, craning her neck to get a better look. "Maybe they just decided to take cover in the trees. It's probably safer than being out in the open."

"Unless there's someone else even worse out there..." Julia said grimly.

Riley gasped suddenly, grabbing on to my arm, making me jump.

"Did you see that?" she asked urgently, pointing to a line of overgrown shrubs on the other side of the clearing. I shook her off, trying to see what she was looking at. There was a flicker of movement from the darkness; a flash of blonde hair which caught my attention. Most likely Diane. But then again...it could be someone else...someone we really didn't want to run into...

"It's them!" Riley said joyfully, clambering to her feet.

Melissa eyed her warily. "Where are you going?"

"They got pretty badly beat up." Riley said indignantly. "I wanna make sure they're ok."

"That's probably not the best idea right now...We can check on them later. They'll be fine where they are." Melissa said, trying to reason with her. "We should just wait until-"

Riley scowled at her wordlessly, clambering to her feet and, before any of us could stop her, she dashed out into the clearing. By some miracle she managed to make it across without attracting any attention from the Sound group, who were too preoccupied with the three newcomers. I could've sworn I saw the boy with the bandaged face glance in her direction, his visible eye narrowing in anger; but Riley had vanished into the undergrowth before he could do anything.

I could only hope that whoever we had seen lurking in the darkness really had been Diane and Riley wasn't running into something nasty. Not that I was going to do anything. As much as I wanted to help my friends, I had to agree with Melissa. It'd be better if we just waited till the Sound three had left. And if I remembered what happened in this episode right; they should be leaving fairly soon...

I turned my attention back to the ongoing fight in the clearing; specifically the three newcomers who had formed a sort of human barrier around Sakura. There was a chubby boy with red swirls on his cheeks and a white scarf wrapped around his neck who seemed more than a little uncomfortable; a taller boy with spiky brown hair tied up into a ponytail and a blonde girl who Sakura was staring up at with wide green eyes.

"Ino..." she gasped. "But why?"

The blonde turned to her, smirking. "Ha! I'm tired of you showing off in front of Sasuke and getting all the credit!" she sneered teasingly.

The boy with the bandages, scowled at them, rage radiating from every pore. "These Leaf Village worms will be sorry they squirmed their way into something that _doesn't concern them_!" He snarled sinisterly.

The fat boy with the scarf flinched at his words, visibly squirming uncomfortably. He turned to his two teammates in anguish.

"What are we _doing_ here?" He hissed. "These guys are bad news man!"

The boy with the ponytail scowled back at him. "Don't look at _me_!" he protested. "This was all Ino's idea." He shot a dirty look in the blonde girl's direction, before smirking. "But hey, what were we supposed to do? Just sit back and let a _girl _do all the fighting?"

I glowered at his back. _'That sexist asshole...'_

The blonde girl, Ino, giggled uneasily; turning to smile apologetically at her friends. "Sorry I got you both dragged into this." She said nervously. "But we _are _a three man team, right? All for one and one for all."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The boy with the ponytail said, smirking. "What's meant to happen will. And if we gotta fight then we gotta fight."

The chubby boy whipped his head round to stare dumbfounded at his teammate. "_Fighting_? Who said anything about _fighting_?" He cried shrilly. "Screw that, I'm getting outta here."

He made to run for it but the taller boy with the ponytail reached out and grabbed his scarf, holding him back with difficulty.

"Chouji!" he hissed indignantly. "Knock it off!"

The fat boy paid no attention, continuing to struggle. I found myself inwardly cringing at the embarrassment they were causing themselves. Though it was kinda comical to see that Chouji boy flailing around like that.

Ultimately, I wasn't the only one who found it funny, as I heard a snigger from the Sound ninja, Zaku; who was sneering at the three newcomers.

"Better a live sheep, than a dead lion. Right fatso?" he chortled.

Chouji immediately froze.

"Ah, shit..." I muttered. I knew what was coming now...

"Did I hear that right? You wanna try saying that again?" he hissed, barely containing his anger. He whirled round to face the other boy, his face like thunder.

"_Who are you calling fat? I'm just a little chubby, ok?_" he screamed, enraged.

"Great." The boy with the ponytail said sarcastically. "Thanks a lot; now we gotta live with him."

"Don't worry. It won't be for long!" Zaku snarled. He raised his arms again, his palms open; about to unleash another wave of hurricane force wind. The three Leaf ninja tensed, preparing to attack.

"_Shit_! She's gone _again_!" I jumped at the sound of Melissa's voice, turning to see her kicking at the dirt in frustration.

"What is it?" I asked. "What're you-" I trailed off into silence as the realization of Julia's sudden absence struck me.

"Son of a bitch..." I muttered.

"This is just fucking perfect. _Now _what'll we do?" Melissa cried.

I frowned. "I don't see why we can't just make a run for it..." I suggested, a little tentatively.

"Because when Nat and Diane tried to 'make a run for it' they almost got killed by Zaku, _idiot_." She snapped back, shooting my suggestion down.

"Well what other choice do we _have_?" I hissed, irritated. She paused for a moment, her eyes narrowed in thought.

"Y'know if we're fast enough they probably wouldn't even notice us." I said, trying to convince her. "They're too busy fighting 'what's-her-name'...Ino's team to pay attention to us anyway."

There was a loud crash and a yell of pain from the clearing, that proved what I had just said. I turned around, leaning forward slightly to get a glimpse of the ongoing fight, but Mel's hand on my shoulder stopped me. I glanced over my shoulder at her and she pointed wordlessly at the motionless figures of Naruto and Sasuke, who were still lying only a few feet from us. At first I didn't know what she was trying to show me; then I noticed the purple flames rising up of him like smoke and the grimace on his face.

"Uh oh..."

"We've probably only got a couple of minutes at the most before he wakes up and completely flips his shit." Mel said quietly. "You're probably right; we should leave. _Now_."

I nodded in agreement and scrambled to my feet, whirling round to come face to face with Julia, who had miraculously reappeared while we had been talking. I stumbled back, giving a strangled shriek before I crashed to the ground, landing on top of Melissa.

"Hey guys!" Julia said cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to the glares that were directed towards her.

"Where the hell've you been?" Mel demanded.

Julia rolled her eyes. "Where d'you think? I went and found the others which is more than you fuckers did!"

"But you _can't _keep on disappearing without telling us anything!" Melissa protested angrily. "I'm getting sick of it!"

Julia snorted. "Stop complaining." She held out her hands, and when we didn't take them, sighed loudly and hauled us both to our feet. As we straightened up, the earth seemed to lurch underneath us and I stumbled, almost ending up flat on my face again. Once my head had stopped spinning I glanced up to see Riley, Diane and Natasha huddled together in the shade of a small tree. Natasha was still clutching her stomach and Diane seemed slightly shaken up but aside from that they were all relatively unharmed.

Melissa dropped my hand and ran to them, flinging her arms around Natasha and Diane with enough force to nearly knock them over. I wandered over and collapsed next to Riley. Julia remained standing, rocking back and forward on her heels.

"I'm so glad everyone's ok." Melissa was saying. "That could've gone so much worse..."

"Yeah, I guess..." Natasha said. "We have _got _to stop getting ourselves into these situations..."

"We'll just have to try and avoid any of the main characters of the show as much as possible." Riley said. "That's where things start to get complicated."

I frowned, straightening up as something suddenly occurring to me. "Hey...what're we gonna do when it comes to the Preliminary rounds?" I asked.

"The _what _rounds?" Diane said.

"Oh shit..." Natasha said. "I forgot about those..."

"Forgot about _what_?" Diane demanded. "What the hell're the Preliminary rounds?"

"You basically have to fight against one of those psycho ninja people by yourself and hope you don't end up getting yourself killed." Melissa said.

Diane laughed uneasily. "Are you kidding me? We can't fucking _fight _them!"

"Look, it's not worth thinking about now." Riley said nervously. "We...we can just cross that bridge when we come to it."

"In...what two days?" Julia scoffed. "It's the second day; we're already almost halfway through this part of the exam. It's not really _that_ long away."

Natasha screwed up her face. "I don't wanna think about that now." She scrambled to her feet, stretching her arms. "We need to find somewhere else to stay for the night. It's gonna start getting dark again in a few hours."

I glanced up at the sky which was dark with rain clouds. My hands were trembling with nerves as my thoughts turned to the oncoming Preliminary rounds. I knew that as hard as the second round had been, this was going to be ten times worse...


End file.
